OverMaster Corrupts Every Work Of Fiction Ever
by OverMaster
Summary: It starts with Bible Black, and spreads from there... if it exists, it's most likely here. It starts twelve years ago, when one Kitami Reika and one Evangeline Mc Dowell cross paths three years after the Second Impact. How will this affect Negi, Minase, Rito, Itou Makoto, Tenchi, Ranma, Mizuhara Makoto, Tamura Makoto, Keitaro and everyone else in the future? Not for minors.
1. Junko, Nami, Hiratani

**IMPORTANT WARNING:** The following fanfic is Bible Black inspired, but plays in a standard OverMaster, Unequally-like, shared crossover Mahora Academy (Mahou Sensei Negima!) that includes characters from a greater variety of manganime than any sane rational mind could take. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. If you are under eighteen, DON'T READ THIS. If you dislike hentai, ecchi, fanservice, crossovers, more crossovers, Negima, Bible Black, or Delicious Hostess Fruit Pies, DON'T READ THIS.

_Bible Black_ belongs to Active Software/Kururi Active.

_Mahou Sensei Negima!_, _Love Hina_, _UQ Holder_, _A.I. Love You_, _My Santa_ and _Earth Defense Force Mao-chan_ all belong to Akamatsu Ken and Kodansha.

All other characters and series mentioned here belong to their respective owners.

Not making any money out of writing any of this.

Thanks to Darkenning for his proofreading and support.

* * *

**OverMaster Corrupts Every Work Of Fiction Ever**.

* * *

**Bible Black Origins: Black Brand.**

* * *

It happened twelve years ago, and three years after the big disaster. The school had just opened again, as Japan slowly recovered from having most of the old Tokyo, and several other areas of the country, swallowed by the ocean. We were rebuilding our lives as best as we could, and, thankfully, the Mahora District was mostly unaffected, so we started that school year with the bright promise of forging a new future without dwelling on the tragedies of the recent past.

There was a lot of catching up to do.

Unfortunately, our resources, including those devoted to surveillance and security, still were reeling from the massive blow we had all taken, Hence, the events that transpired cannot be really blamed on anyone in particular.

Or so we keep telling ourselves.

For our own sake.

* * *

The skies had been slightly, yet noticeably, redder since the cataclysm. It was barely apparent during most of the day, and after nightfall, but the usual red tints of twilights from days past had been replaced by starkly red, often downright scarlet, dusk skies, all over the world. Yet, as with anything else, humans could and would grow used to it. They had more pressing matters to concern them, as well.

The sun was a huge yellow disc on a fiery red background, a study in primary colors displayed over the majestic sight of the old Mahora Academy and its imposing World Tree. Students and teachers alike had, for the most part, retreated back to their homes, since the city had not actually regained its former sense of a night life yet. So the main building of the female wing of the campus was mostly deserted by now.

Behind closed doors, and taking advantage of that, two young women shared long, wet, deep kisses.

In itself, that wouldn't have been that shocking anymore, in this day and age. It was still against all regulations, but it was a sight that certainly wouldn't have rattled anyone but the most innocent and inexperienced. Most teachers would even have let the girls go with naught but a stern warning to never do it again.

However, the fact that it was happening in the very office of the Student Council would have changed all of that.

Finally, their mouths drew apart from each other, and breaking the bridge of drool still linking them, the aquamarine haired girl with glasses and half-closed eyes mouthed a heavy, breathless, "Onee-sama."

The still more beautiful girl with dark hair, framed in bangs around her face, smiled at her flushed face. "You're so cute," she said before unhooking the shoulder straps of the other girl's black uniform jacket, and fondling her large breasts over her white shirt. The bespectacled girl moaned, as her lover giggled and kissed her throat, then gently pushed her onto the Council President's desk, on her back, looming above her and caressing the crotch of her pink panties as soon as she opened her legs. "And look at yourself, you're already wet."

She pushed a finger in, pushing the expensive, fine pink cloth along with it, and the other female's voice became a sharp cry. Yet the dark-haired girl's face remained the same, calmly smiling, as she fingered her, ignoring her token protestations for her to stop. That was part of the game as well. A game that, regrettably, did not last that long, as her partner reached a shuddering climax after just a few more moments. But that was okay, too. There were other, far better games to play.

"Get down on all fours," the dark haired girl commanded, with a voice that was as kind as it was imperative.

"Yes." So she did.

Her partner placed herself on her knees behind her, yanking her short skirt up. "You have a big ass," the dark haired one purred. "Doesn't that make you feel at all embarrassed, fatass?"

"Y-Yes, I am," she answered, giving her a shy look back, over her shoulder. "B-But you told me you liked it like that, so -"

"And I do," Kozono Nami nodded absently, licking her own lips. "That doesn't make it any less fat, though," she added, grabbing her lover's panties and lowering them all the way. The other girl's private flower, glistening with its wetness, was visible now, right before her nose.

"Onee-sama," the girl on her hands and knees uttered tremulously.

"You are so beautiful, Junko," Nami said reverently, before starting to lick away.

"Onee-sama!"

As usual, it didn't take Nami long to make Junko reach an orgasm, which bothered Nami inwardly more than she would let on. After all, there was little point in an enterprise of easy and fast achievements, as her father was prone to say. Sighing to herself, Nami undid her own skirt and pulled it down along her panties, moving around Junko until she stood before her. "Your turn," she simply said, and with a docile nod, the green haired beauty began lapping softly on Nami's vulva and clitoris. _This is way better_, Nami thought. _I guess, after all, some are just born to serve rather than ever being served_. Again, just like Father would say.

"That's right... you're great, Junko... so, so great!"

Like any good servant, Junko repaid Nami's praise with something better than empty words - that is, her continued oral work on Nami's black-haired crotch. "Delicious!" she finally said, after her efforts resulted in a flow of that sweet honey she craved so much into her mouth.

Nami chuckled, reached down to pet her hair, and then began to pull off the rest of her own clothes.

Shortly after, reduced to their black stockings, and glasses in Junko's case, the two girls writhed together on the floor, flesh rubbing flesh. Nami's mouth kissed Junko's collarbone as her hands went back to massaging her nicely shaped breasts, until the mouth went lower and replaced Nami's right hand on Junko's left mammary, again making the girl under her cry in pleasure. By now, Nami had learned well how to best pleasure her girlfriend, thus proving herself as good a student in that field as with everything else.

"Onee-sama, harder... squeeze my nipples harder!"

So Nami pinched on a nipple and bit on the other, and Junko had her third orgasm of the evening. Honestly. Too easy to please, this girl. Nami hadn't even reached her fully fledged first. Well, something would have to be done about that, wouldn't it?

"That feels so good..." Junko sighed.

"This'll feel better," Nami promised, shifting her around so they sat before each other on the floor, and their sexes touched. Nami bit her lower lip and began grinding again, much to Junko's renewed delight and yelps of building ecstasy.

Four large breasts bounced in a steady tandem as the girls rubbed and humped, Nami just smiling as Junko kept on voicing her emotions. Nami supported her own weight back on her hands, firmly planted on the floor, while Junko wrapped her arms around her for her own support, closing her eyes as she rode the latest orgasmic wave, bathed by the orangeish sunlight filtering through the half-closed curtains. "Onee-sama, I'm coming!"

But Nami never said anything else until they were done. She never stopped smiling. But she didn't say anything either.

Somehow, it felt like the old magic was gone already. Time to look around for more, then.

* * *

Which brings us to the next day, to Nami's classroom, after Akashi-sensei's lessons for the day had finished, and most students had left. Only three girls remained, two of them standing beside the desk of the third, a fetching redhead with long hair who sat holding a thick book in her hands. Out of that book, she pulled a set of tarot cards she had smuggled into classes, and began shuffling them around, readying herself for the day's round of fortune telling.

"The Wheel of the Fortune," she said, looking at said card, which showed three small, black and white furry creatures standing around a large, colorful spinning wheel.

"Hey, it's the same reading I got!" said the girl with short, sandy blond hair.

"Yeah!" nodded the shortest of the three, who had her dark green hair in twintails.

"A great change is upon us," said the sitting redhead. "Something that will change our lives completely."

"Maybe we're going to find boyfriends?" wondered the blonde.

"I'll ask Takemura-kun out!" giggled the smallest of the trio.

"Well," the redhead smiled, "maybe it doesn't have anything to do with romance. Why don't we think bigger? That's why we're doing this, right?"

"Maybe, but boyfriends don't hurt either. Well, not most of the time anyway," mused the blonde. "Perhaps Usuno, from History classes?"

The sound of the classroom's door being slammed open startled them, and they looked towards it, to see Kozono Nami standing there, with her arms folded right under her breasts, and a stern expression on her face. "Just like I thought. Takashiro, Morita, Shindou. What are you doing still here?"

"President!" Morita Rie, the green-haired one, gasped aloud. "Um, we were just -"

"Gambling on school grounds?" Nami sneered, taking a look at the cards displayed before Takashiro Hiroko, the redhead. "You know well that's strictly forbidden. Shame on you."

"These cards aren't for games. They are for fortune telling," Hiroko calmly replied as Nami approached them. "Shouldn't you be tending to your official meetings at this time of the day, Kozono-san?"

"I don't need to explain our procedures and schedules to you, Takashiro-san," Nami shot back, even more coldly. "Having hobbies is okay, of course," she added, grabbing one of the cards and looking more closely at it. "But why don't you try something healthier and more fitting your age?"

As Morita and Shindou scowled at her, Takashiro kept her completely collected demeanor. "Don't take witchcraft lightly. Magic, spells and rituals have defined the history of mankind since its start. The power of the occult can and has performed many a miracle. Those who were wiser than us knew that."

Nami hesitated for a moment before answering, drinking in Takashiro's mature beauty for a few moments. It was a beauty she had attempted to enjoy before, throwing several subtle clues her way at the term's start. However, while Takashiro had been as quick on picking up on them as she was at everything else, she hadn't wasted any time on firmly rejecting Nami's advances, either. Ever since, a deep divide had grown and grown between them.

It was not going to be bridged now, either. "Do you really think," Nami finally asked, "that you can actually find anything of value in that mystical nonsense?"

"No matter what Akashi-sensei and others may say, magic exists, we're sure of it. It's our mission to find it and prove its existence. Would you like to read up on the subject?" Hiroko asked, offering the book to her. "I'm sure you'll find it highly enlightening."

The offer had been quite politely voiced, without obvious vitriol or sarcasm, for, while Hiroko was not fond of Nami, neither did she hold a grudge against her. She supposed she was, at the very least, thankful for being thought of as appealing, even if she had no interest in returning such feelings. But one more adept would never hurt, right?

Nami looked at the book, but mostly at the hand holding it, her lower lip attempting to move for a moment, held back only by her indecision.

"Take it, for real," Hiroko evenly said. "Keep it for as long as you'd like. We have many more. Enjoy it to the fullest."

Nami kept on doubting, now torn between the tantalizing proximity to the redhead, the subtle promises of power the tome seemed to radiate from its cover, and her own stubborn pride. The strongest force ended up winning, of course.

"That's ridiculous!" she said, turning the book down. "I have too many important things to do to waste my time with children's stuff," she decided, turning back around and walking out the door. "You'll better leave immediately!" she warned as she walked away.

"Bitch," Shindou Saki snarled between gritted teeth, while Morita nodded and smirked.

"Never mind her. It's her loss," Hiroko blandly commented, taking back the card Nami had left on the desk. It was that showing the image of a pale jester clad in red and black, with an angular face and even sharper smile, happily dancing towards a cliff.

_The Fool_.

While Hiroko sighed and placed the cards back into the book, she wondered about the sudden chill running up her spine. Superstitious as she was, though, she could think of no clear cause for an ill omen at that precise moment, so she ignored it as best as she could.

Perhaps it was only the wind blowing through the window.

* * *

The very next day, yet another beautiful young woman in a Mahora High uniform, holding a brown school briefcase in a hand and sporting short blond hair and blue eyes, ran in the middle of the crowd leaving the train station, joining the everyday race of the going-to-be-late. However, she proved to have far less endurance than the average, hardened Mahora veteran, so pretty soon she came to a stop at the side of the road, to pant with her hands on her knees.

"Haaa! Haaaa!" she went. "I can't ... I can't take a single more step... I'm dead!"

Then she heard low, hostile mumblings coming from a few steps away from her. She turned to see a very small girl with long golden hair and green eyes, on her hands and knees as she gathered some books and writing utensils she had dropped all over the sidewalk.

"... don't know why I bother with these... stupid weak body, stupid rude jerks all around... doesn't he think I've spent enough time here already...?"

The taller and busty girl quickly crouched down at her side to help her pick her belongings up. "Here, let me help you! You're having a rough day too, aren't you?"

"You don't know half of it," the little girl grunted curtly as they finished tucking everything into her own schoolbag. "Shouldn't you be on your way already? I didn't ask for your help."

"Well," the other girl smiled. "It's not every day one gets to help a genius, is it?"

"A genius?"

"Sure thing! You're, ah, like ten, aren't you? And yet," she pointed at the green eyed cutie's uniform, "you're already in junior high!"

"Well, compared to everyone around here, I'm a genius, no doubt," the little girl huffed while standing up. "I don't remember seeing you before."

"Oh, I'm new around here! This is my first day, actually! My name's Kitami Reika! And you are?"

"Evangeline A.K. Mc Dowell," she replied, turning around and walking for the school, while gesturing for Reika to follow her. She had been wanting someone to serve her now that Karin was gone, until she could finish her line of servant dolls. Perhaps this idiot would be more willing than all other jerks she had approached. Ah, for the old days, when one only needed to hypnotize them. "Class 2-A. I can show you the ropes around the place as long as you can give me something in trade."

"What do you mean?" the obvious idiot asked as she followed her.

"You know, small favors here and there. School life is regrettably hard for someone smaller and smarter than the oxes and bimbos crowding this academy. But if you watch my back, I'll watch yours."

It was still demeaning and humbling, having to play the game of concessions. But she could hope until the time was ripe. Back in the day, she'd been able to take what she wanted with no explanations or reasons, but by now she thought she was regaining the ability to negotiate she'd had to develop while studying under the Nobles.

"Oh... thank you! Um, I'll be glad to!"

"Good," was all Evangeline said.

At some point of their walk together, a small brown and white dog approached them, wagging its tail and panting slightly. Evangeline paid it no attention, but Reika crouched down to look directly at it as soon as she realized its presence.

A few moments later, Evangeline realized that she was failing to hear steps right behind her, and looked back. "What are you doing, you idiot?" she asked Reika, who now was petting the dog's head and offering some of her packed lunch. "You're going to be tardy!"

"It'll only take a moment, Eva-chan!" Reika promised.

"... Eva-chan?!"

At that moment, Evangeline realized something else. The dark haired young woman who had just been left near them by a white limousine driven by a middle-aged man had also stopped to look intently at Kitami, with a sudden starstruck faraway look in her eyes.

"... oh. President," Evangeline sneered under her breath. "What has left you so late today? Overslept after too munch carpet munching?"

Nami kept on looking at the crouching girl, ignoring the usual insolent words from one of the typical 2-A weirdos. She had to be the most gorgeous girl she had ever laid eyes upon, even more than Hiroko. It was an innocent, charming, healthy beauty, the kind that was so difficult to find in Mahora.

"McDowell-san," she finally breathed out. "Would you happen to know this... new student, I assume?"

"New, indeed," Evangeline smirked, giving Nami a sly side glance. "If you hurry up, maybe you can snag her before someone else does. She just told me her name is Kitami Reika."

"Kitami Reika," Nami repeated to herself, making sure to memorize the name properly. Already her heart beat faster. Was this love at first sight, the one romance novels and songs harped about so much?

Evangeline kept looking back and forth between Reika and Nami and finally hummed to herself. Now that was a situation that might have some potential for exploitation...

* * *

"What's this?" Hiroko asked, sounding suspicious, after Rie placed the book on the table, at the start of their latest club meeting. The club was down to the three of them now, after most of the other members had quit due to lack of interest or more pressing concerns over the last two months, and further recruiting had, for the most part, failed miserably. The only student who had shown an interest in joining had been a really nosy twelve-year old with red hair named Sugiura, who kept insisting she actually was seventeen, but the girls had turned her down repeatedly until she finally got a clue and left them alone.

Of course, by now, they were almost regretting having done so. Unless they got new members soon, the Student Council would cancel their permission and disband the club, which was why they had resorted to looking for promotional hooks everywhere.

The large tome Rie had brought had sturdy black leather trimmings. Depicted on the moldy and worn cover there was a white hexagram symbol, the Star of David, crossed by a sword. A metal chain with the same symbol was wrapped around the thick cover to hold it shut.

"I found it last night, when I was doing some exploration with the Library Club," said Morita, who had a well known craving for old books. "It was in a secret panel behind a stand in one of the deepest chambers we have access to, so I figure it must be important. Or else why bother to hide it so carefully? And it's very well kept regardless, don't you think?"

"Well, even if it's a dud, we could sell it for a good price," estimated Saki, reaching over to touch the cover.

"It has a very strong odor, too," Hiroko said, carefully picking it up and sniffing the cover, which smelled unlike any other old, moldy tome she ever had before. Even so, she wouldn't ever reject a book on the arcane, no matter what, much less based on such petty and pointless details. "What do we have that can cut chains?" she asked, briefly gesturing with her fingers as she entered her Old Book Surgeon Mode.

Rie, never missing a beat, handed her a small but very sharp saw, the one they used to cut their way in to forbidden areas of the Library. They had found many precious treasures that way.

"Thanks," Hiroko said, expertly sawing on the chain until it loosened down from around the book, and she could open it after donning the special gloves Rie had just brought her. It wouldn't do to damage a relic because of lack of care, after all. The pages were of a B5-size, yellowed and stained, made of parchment. There was a strange unidentified black ink drawing on the flyleaf.

"What does it say?" Saki asked, looking down at the first few pages, which were written in a language she didn't understand.

"I have no idea. It's written in French and Latin, apparently, but I only understand Japanese and some English," replied Hiroko, slowly flipping through the pages, although the imagery spoke a universal language that strongly appealed to her regardless. There were a lot of images depicting spirits, demons, witches and mythological beasts, and complex diagrams and schematics of the human body, and those of several animals as well. Many of those animals were clearly not of this world, either. "But we can translate it easily, I think. It shouldn't take much more than a couple of dictionaries, an Internet connection, a few days and a lot of drive. I once translated a whole book on German that way."

"Neat!" Rie said. "So, how old, would you say? My calculations suggest it is from the Middle Ages."

"C'mon!" Saki said. "You're hoping for too much."

"No, I think she may be right," Hiroko shook her head. "As a matter of fact, I'd say -"

"Excuse me," someone else said from their doorstep, and the three tilted their heads around to look at Mochida Junko from the Student Council standing there, with a neutral expression on her face.

"What do you want?" asked Saki, not bothering with politeness.

"I've been sent to inform you your permission to keep using this room for your club has been cancelled, as well as the license for the club itself," Junko told them. "You have two days to remove your belongings before the room is reassigned."

"What?!" cried Saki, as Rie gulped and Hiroko remained stoic. "I thought you would give us two more weeks, the President said-"

"I have no recollections of ever seeing a document describing an agreement of that sort," Junko said, finally smiling smugly. "And I'm sure the President would have mentioned it to me if there was one. Maybe you misinterpreted her words?"

"The hell we did!" Saki bristled, giving a step ahead before Rie held her by an arm. "You two won't stop messing with us, will you?!"

"Why would we bother to be so petty with an organization so unworthy of our attentions?" asked Junko, shaking her head. "We're only enforcing school regulations, that's all."

"But ... all the clubs have been having membership problems, and you know it!" Rie protested. "It's still too soon since... well, since we started classes again, and the academy's still having problems with the enroll-"

"All of that is inconsequential," Junko slowly wagged a finger. "Two days. That's my last word on it. If you wish to stake any further claims, you can take it to the President."

"Why for? It's not like she'll even hear us if we don't start licking her-!" Saki began.

"Saki," Hiroko calmly said, standing up with the tome. "Don't bother. She's doing it by the book, so we will as well. Take it easy."

"Hiroko!" Saki hissed at her.

Junko nodded. "Surprisingly wise of you, Takashiro-san, but then, you always were the smartest person here. Good day everyone, regardless." She bowed before turning on her heel and leaving, probably twirling an imaginary mustache as she walked, or so Rie imagined, at least.

"What the hell, you fucking lesbo turboslut!" Saki waved a fist at her retreating back. "If you want a fist up your cunt so badly, I can give you one!"

"Saki, please, don't diminish yourself like that," Hiroko sighed. "The formalities don't matter as long as the Rose Cross Society lives on in spirit. We aren't going to split up, anyway, and that's all that matters. That, and translating this book. I have a real good hunch about this one. Remember the tarot reading?"

Saki deflated with a tired groan. "What's the fucking point, Hiroko? It'll be like every other time we've tried looking for a way to perform magic."

Rie nodded sadly. "Yeah, maybe... maybe they're right about us after all."

"Nonsense!" Hiroko raised her voice. "Where's your fighting spirit? Are we going to allow them to have the last laugh on us? Even if we fall, we'll do so fighting! I don't know about you, but I'll never stop looking for the truth as long as I live!"

"Hiroko!" Rie said.

Saki frowned before regaining a smile. "Well! I suppose it beats doing nothing, right? It might be fun!"

Takashiro nodded. "Right. Who knows? We haven't ever tried with one as old as this. And I want to believe, and as long as one believes, there'll be hope. Girls be ambitious! _Audacia Paula!_"

"Girls be ambitious?" Saki echoed dubiously. "Audacia Paula?"

Hiroko shrugged. "Remember that weird but handsome guy who used to visit the Headmaster before the disaster? He used to say that. I thought it was sort of cool, myself."

* * *

"My name's Kitami Reika, and I'm pleased to meet you all!" She had bowed towards her new classmates early that morning, being greeted by several wide, enchanted smiles from the few males in the classroom. (Reduced enrollments after the cataclysm meant several masculine and feminine classrooms had to be merged for the foreseeable future.) The young Akashi-sensei nodded his approval at the overall warm reception the new student was receiving. "I hope we can be good friends!"

In her seat, Nami slowly twirled a pencil between her fingers while nodding to herself. So she wasn't kind only to animals; that just made her an even better catch.

* * *

"And everyone was so kind and warm, it was great! This sure seems a wonderful school!" Reika clasped her hands together, a few hours later, as she sat with Evangeline-chan in one of the large pools of the massive communal baths for girls.

"Uh-huh," Evangeline nodded, her eyes cynically half-closed. (She wasn't a half-open person.) She'd decided that foolish youngster's eyes were really creepy when they went starry like that. "Just give them some time. A week, two tops, and they'll start showing their true colors. They'll start asking what can you do for them, and -"

"I'll be glad to do anything for them, as long as it's reasonable! It's the least I can do for such a wonderful welcome!" Reika replied.

Damn Pollyannas. "What I'm trying to say," Evangeline said, gesturing with her hands over the warm waters for effect, "is that their friendship is conditional. If you don't do things for them, they'll start treating you like crap, because most of them are envious and petty like that. And yes, I know I have had you do things for me, but I'm honest in that regard. They'll play nice and put on a kind facade, but it won't last, believe me."

"Why would anyone be jealous of me?" Reika asked, blinking. "I'm not especially wealthy, or pretty."

Evangeline gave Reika's gorgeous, innocent face a jaded glare before opening her mouth to say something.

"Why, good afternoon, Kitami-san! What a wonderful coincidence, finding you here!" said someone who was walking towards them with nothing on but the towel loosely wrapped around her shoulders, showing off her full, curvy body with large breasts, wide hips, and a thin waist. Evangeline cringed and bitterly folded her arms around her own flat chest. "Remember me?" the newcomer added, sitting at Reika's right while ignoring the kouhai. "I'm Kozono Nami, and I'll study with you starting today. I also happen to be the President of the Student Council..."

After a few wide-open moments of careful consideration, Reika brought her hands together again. This resulted into a slight bounce of her breasts, which pleased Nami and further infuriated Evangeline. "Oh, that's right! I remember you know! Well, it's nice, meeting you, again, I mean, um."

"In these more intimate circumstances? Yes, I quite agree," Nami smiled, edging just slightly closer to Reika's naked body. "I hope you'll have an easy time acclimating yourself to Mahora, but in the event anyone is bothering you -" This was said with the slightest casual nod towards a sneering Evangeline. "- please just let me know. I'll even give you my cellphone number."

"Will you? Oh, that's so great from you!" Reika said, completely missing the nod. Somehow. "I'll try to never bother you unless I really need to, but -"

"Oh-ho-ho!" Nami let out a very quick and short mini-Ojou laugh. "Please, that's what we're here for. It won't be any bother, believe me. I know, for newcomers, it often can be difficult to make friends."

Evangeline rose from the water, reaching for her own towel. "I'm getting hungry, Kitami. What if we go for some hot dogs? I'm feeling up for some good weiners. I'd invite you as well, President, but I've heard you really dislike those."

"Oh, hot dogs sound really good! Do you have those already?" asked Reika, also standing up, silencing Nami's upcoming angry retort at Evangeline with the innocent display of her dynamite nudity. "Back at Neo-Tokyo, supplies are still limited. It's part of why we moved, actually."

Evangeline smirked as she rubbed herself with the towel, making sure of waving her ass towards Nami. "You always can find yourself good weiners at Mahora, no matter the time or situation. Well," she added as she finished drying herself, wrapping the towel around her body. "See you around then, President. And please close that mouth, will you? Excuse her, Kitami, sometimes people that intelligent lose themselves in their thoughts."

"Oh, I had a cousin who was like that!" Kitami nodded before waving at Nami. "Bye then, Kozono-san! See you tomorrow!"

"Ahhh... hahhhhh..." Nami blandly nodded and waved as she helplessly watched that tiny abnormal thing walk away with the girl of her dreams.

Then, once alone, she punched the water really hard and began seething like a furious animal.

* * *

It was a much embittered and frustrated Nami who left the baths shortly after, all but stomping her way out, and hearing a male voice of all things coming from behind her only further soured her spirits.

"Excuse me... please..."

She sharply looked back, to see a scrawny, bony boy around her age, with an unusually sharp face that made him look far older than he actually was, standing there, with an envelope extended towards her in shaking hands. He had short, messy black hair, and deep brown eyes that seemed sunk into his features, right above a crooked nose and under thick eyebrows. In short, he was really ugly, and his bad posture only added to the sensation of discomfort and awkwardness he seemed to radiate.

"What do you want?" Nami skipped over all pretenses of civility.

"Um, maybe y-you don't remember me, but my name's Hiratani, from the Photography Club."

"So?"

He gulped visibly. "This, this, this is for you, Kozono-sama!" he stuttered, all but thrusting the envelope at her. "I, I I thought of leaving it in your locker, but I decided I had to be braver, and otherwise it'd have been creepy, and, and, and!"

Nami gave the envelope a long, sneering look before grunting, "I see."

"I know, I know this is too bold, and I won't blame you if you don't want to -"

"Good. Because I'm not interested in men, and even if I were, you wouldn't be my type, Hiratani-san. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going."

And then began to quickly walk away, down the hall, without looking back.

The boy stood there, with his mouth half-open and the letter still in his hands. "Ahhh..."

She stopped. "Oh, by the way, Hiratani-san."

"Y-Y-Yes?"

"It is terrible bad taste, waiting for a girl as she comes out of the baths. Do it again and you'll not only serve detention, but your parents will be informed," she told him, before walking away from him at a speedy pace.

Hiratani remained standing there, in a complete silence.

* * *

After eating, Evangeline-chan had led a curious Reika to the kindergarten playgrounds, without bothering to explain her reasons. Kitami hadn't protested, either way, hoping to learn more about Eva-chan that way. They stopped near a huge slide shaped like an Emperor Penguin, where several children followed, in a respectful silence, a very cute and tiny pink haired girl who had a small pet monkey - most likely a South American one, from what Reika knew on the subject - sitting on her head.

"Look and learn, Kitami," Eva told Reika. "Even from the earliest age, hierarchies and authorities are important, and the strong define themselves by exerting their power. That is Jakuzure Nonon, daughter of one of Japan's most powerful businessmen. And yet, to exert power over her, one only needs to use the correct words. Watch me and don't say anything." She then gestured for Kitami to follow her as she made her way for the little girl, who immediately stopped and looked at Evangeline in recognition.

"Evangeline-san," Jakuzure said, with a vague nod and a little frown.

"Good afternoon, Jakuzure-san," Eva smirked, stopping before her as the fearful children gave way to her. "Is Kiryuin-san here? I'd like to talk with her."

Nonon, after a moment of silence, nodded and gestured for the children to move back, then made Evangeline and Reika follow her into a small nearby recreation room, where a black haired girl barely taller and older than Nonon sat drawing with crayons on a sheet of paper. Reika noticed there was a tall stack of other sheets stacked next to her, and that, for a girl that age, the sitting student had a remarkable ability for drawing... whatever she was trying to draw. It looked like a diagram, or blueprints of some sort; whichever it was, it wasn't something you'd expect to see a child drawing. Even if her ability at getting the straight lines actually straight still left a lot to be desired.

On a possibly tangentially related note, that girl had really thick eyebrows.

"Satsuki-chan!" Nonon sing-sang. "Evangeline-san wants to talk with you!"

The sitting girl stopped drawing and gave Eva the sort of stern look you'd expect from someone far older. "Good afternoon. What can I do for you?"

"Good afternoon, Sat-chan," Eva chuckled, before gesturing towards Reika, who waved nervously. "This is Kitami Reika, and I'm showing her the ropes. In the event something happens to her while I'm not around, can you tell your forces to be on the look-out for her? I think Kozono's got designs for her."

"What?" a puzzled Reika blinked.

The sitting girl nodded stiffly.

"This," Evangeline explained to Reika, "is Kiryuin Satsuki, daughter of Kiryuin Ragyou."

"The President of REVOCS?!" Reika gasped loudly.

"If you want something in this campus, Sat-chan is one of the most trustworthy people to resort to," Eva said. "So treat her with as much respect as you'd give me."

"But... but she's, like, five!" Reika babbled.

"Age is inconsequential for a spirit who awakens early!" the sitting girl said, in a loud, regal tone that made Kitami stand straighter, as if her father had just yelled at her. "Don't ever disregard me over my age, or appearance, or I'll forget this is a favor asked by Evangeline-san!"

Eva sighed. "See, this is why I told you not to speak."

"... I'm sorry!" Reika whimpered, bending forward in a bow that was as deep as she could manage without actually genuflecting.

"Where did you find her?" Satsuki asked Evangeline.

The blonde shrugged. "Let's just say I feel potential in her, and in part, I'm also doing it only to screw around with Kozono." Then she smiled smugly at Reika. "Sat-chan is going to take over that office, you know?"

"Sooner or later, I shall," the little girl nodded solemnly. "I only hope there aren't too many more myopic blunderers between Kozono and myself. But it ultimately matters little. Even if they drive this school into the ground, I shall make it more glorious and powerful than ever, regardless!" This was said with a Hot Blooded wave of a tiny iron fist. "So swears Kiryuin Satsuki!"

"That was a great speech, Satsuki-chan!" Nonon nodded, bringing her a glass of warm milk with a cute drawing of Doraemon on it. Satsuki thanked her with a dry nod and drank quickly, then putting the glass down and leaving herself with a thick milk moustache. One that she only noticed and licked away after a few moments of majestic, proud silence.

"Do you want to see my cabin now?" Evangeline casually asked the stunned Reika then.

* * *

Late that night, in the dorm room Hiroko, Rie and Saki shared after filing an official request two months ago, Hiroko sat before her computer, diligently working on it, as Saki and Rie rested together on Saki's bunk, on their stomachs and fully dressed. (No matter what some thought, both girls were heterosexual.) They occupied themselves by studying transcriptions from the book, armed with several dictionaries Rie had brought from Library Island.

"Let's see," Rie hummed. "I think I got this one. 'These are the high level spells of... traumaturgy?' No, no, no. I don't get this part. It's not even modern French, and the Latin parts don't seem to be in the proper language either!"

"'Through this chapter, you can access ... secret spells to conjure spirits of darkness'?" Saki grunted as slammed her hands on her pillow. "Dammit, this is too hard! Hey, Hiroko, why don't we drop it already? In three hours, this is all we've translated. Let's find ourselves another angle to revive the club, okay?"

"I've translated two of the segments written in French already. The introduction, and one of the spells," Hiroko coolly informed, before reading aloud, _"This is the great Grimoire, containing the rarest secrets in the world. The great laws of magic. Here you shall find secrets chants for the Holy Spirits of the Darkness. The throne of the Apostles shall be assumed by the one who has been entrusted with the key to the Kingdom of Heaven, in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to Saint Peter: 'I shall entrust thee with the key to the Kingdom of Heaven', and he alone shall have the power to command the Lord of Darkness and his servants. And they shall be his servants also, and shall bring him honor and glory and worship. Again in accordance with the Lord Jesus Christ's words, 'Thou shalt serve only one God'. By the power of the key to the Church, thou shalt become the ruler of Hell'._"

Saki chuckled. "As expected from Hiro-chan! Why do you even need us around?"

Hiroko shrugged. "Your conversation keeps me from falling asleep through this? The subject is fascinating, but struggling through foreign grammar is a pain."

Rie couldn't help shuddering. "Boy, that's really creepy. Does it refer to God or the Devil?"

"Both, in a way, I suspect," Hiroko carefully said. "The Bible itself says Jesus has the power to command demons, and the Book of Job portrays the Devil as a spirit also subject to God's will, yet another instrument of His work to test mortals. Listen_, 'We pray that this book shall serve all those who read it and pray for the success of their endeavors, and that it benefits them. By the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ with which we fill our daily cups, we pray that this book serves all who read it. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, thou art purified'_. That doesn't sound evil at all, does it?"

"... if you say so," Saki shrugged.

"With that in mind," Hiroko smiled at them, "what if we try the spell I've translated?"

Her friends snapped into full attention.

"Are you sure?" asked Rie, her eyes well open.

Hiroko nodded. "It's called 'The Spell of the Wrapped Stone and the Naked Dance'. You only have to write the initials of the targeted person in blood on a piece of paper. Then you wrap that paper around a stone, place it on top of the book, and recite a special prayer. Afterwards, you bury the stone and the paper beneath a pathway the target will use, and after a few hours, it will take effect, forcing the target to 'dance naked'. It sounds harmless enough to me, but it might be good for a few laughs."

"It sounds sort of lame," Saki muttered. "Although if you try on it on the one I think you mean -"

"I am," Takashiro nodded, grabbing paper and a sharp cutter and running the former across one of her fingers, barely flinching as blood started flowing out.

Looking through Hiroko's translation, Rie hummed. "Wait, wait, what's this part supposed to mean? _'When you witness her dancing naked in a depraved manner, you must look on her not with envy, but with pity'_?"

"As long as it works, who cares about the details?" Hiroko asked as she began writing with her own blood. "It's only an experiment anyway."

Saki snorted out a side of her mouth. "Who would envy that bitch anyway? Not me!"

Hiroko nodded as she started writing the second letter down. And she smiled.

She doubted it would work, although she wanted to think it would. But she'd never run into a result that worked unless she kept on trying every possible way to find magic, would she?

* * *

It had been a reasonably good week for Evangeline. Kitami might have been a fool, but she was also helpful enough around the cabin, and over the last few days she had become quite domestic. She'd do until Eva's maid dolls were finished. Best of all was, the girl was so blindly charitable, she'd gladly have helped the little girl who had shown her around Mahora for free; even so, Evangeline's sense of honor had moved her to pay for Reika's services.

On Reika's part, she just guessed Eva-chan had rich parents overseas, although she never wanted to talk about her family. The little girl was very lazy, so it had fallen onto Reika helping her new young friend organize and tidy up her lovely cabin in the woods. And she did it happily, since, eccentric as she was, Eva-chan was the most helpful and protective person she had met since coming to the Academy. Just like Eva-chan had predicted, most of the boys who approached her and left love letters in her locker tried to get touchy very quickly, and it usually took Eva-chan approaching and making scary faces at them to send them away. Eva-chan was full of surprises like that.

Then there was the Student Council President, who would often come closer to ask how she was doing, and trying to linger around Reika longer each time, much to the obvious discomfort of Mochida-san, Kozono-san's usual companion. Once or twice, Reika had caught Mochida-san sending angry glares her way while Kozono-san wasn't looking, and by the time the weekend rolled around, Kitami had come to the conclusion that Eva-chan was right about her, as well; not only did Kozono-san have ... those sorts of desires for her, but Mochida-san was the President's girlfriend, and she was jealous of Reika!

It was a truly uncomfortable situation for her, so she hadn't felt happy at all when Evangeline ordered her to go with her to a meeting of the student body at the main gymnasium. From what Reika had gathered about Eva-chan, she had never been interested in social activities or public gatherings before this, but Reika was too shy to ask her about her reasons, so she only could agree. And now there they were sitting beside Eva-chan's noisy, happily chattering 2-A classmates at the back of the auditorium.

"Requests for amendments will be discussed at our next meeting," the President said warmly, finishing her opening presentation to the students and staff. "That was all concerning our new regulations. And now, Mochida-san will elaborate on the budget for the next term," she added, stepping down the podium shortly before Junko stepped up.

"Th-Thank you," a strangely uncomfortable Mochida said, nervously smoothing the documents of her presentation before herself. "Ah. W-Well, our country is still recovering from the impact of the global crisis, b-but ..."

Evangeline arched an eyebrow, feeling a sudden strange pulse in the air. The fact that she could do so, despite the seal which hampered her perceptions as well as her power, meant that something was definitely wrong there.

"H-However, our report for this term, I'm ... pl-pleased... to say, is rather more optimistic than initially expected," At this point Mochida coughed and took a fist to her own throat, as if wanting to rub it with her knuckles. Sitting nearby with the rest of the Council, Nami tensed up in concern.

Evangeline almost sank her fingernails on the arm of the girl sitting next to her. "Kitami," she hissed. "On my sign, if I give you one, flee. Run and don't look back. Go find the Headmaster, and don't stop until you're at his office."

Reika blinked. "Eh?"

"The Sports and Literature Clubs," Junko coughed, going visibly pale as she rubbed her legs together. "They are, they have, reached an acceptable level of, of scholarships for this year, so we have, we have decided ..."

"Junko?" Nami asked aloud. "Are you feeling all right?"

The sound of Nami's voice, if anything, only seemed to worsen Junko's erratic behavior. "Ah, ah, ahhh... ahhhh!" she shrieked, hugging herself and shaking.

The low chatter across the crowd went from curious and even amused to shocked gasps and questions voiced aloud.

Junko staggered from behind the podium to stand between it and the audience instead, trembling and crying and closing her eyes. Those sitting the closest to her, Nami included, could see thin lines of a shiny liquid running down her legs.

"Junko!" Nami gasped.

Once again, the sound of Nami's voice sent her lover over the edge. "Ah!" she cried, and spasmed violently on her feet.

Evangeline tugged on one of Reika's sleeves. "Go," she commanded.

"B-But, won't anyone els-" her new servant hesitated.

"No one will move as long as this is happening! Just go!" Eva growled, and a second after, the scared Reika nodded, stood up, and ran out of the gymnasium.

On the stage, as the audience sat still and oddly fascinated by the implausibility of it all, Junko screamed "I can't take it anymore!" and began unfastening the top of her uniform, much to everyone's shock, but most specially that of Hiroko's trio. After being reduced to her white undershirt, she unzipped and unbuttoned her skirt and let it drop around her feet, while everybody just could watch in awe.

Whimpering, Junko took off her undershirt next, and then her shoes, before doing a promenade across the stage in her underwear and stockings. She stopped by the podium, leaned back on it, and her expression changed slowly to a saucy, sly smile.

"Hello, everybody," she purred, giving the audience a come-hither look. Many swooned. Even Evangeline had to cross her legs and bite on her lower lip. The girl, for all her flaws, had a truly stunning figure, almost as good as Kozono's.

The girl on stage took her glasses off and said, "Look," before unhooking her pink bra, freeing her firm breasts. Everyone in the public leaned ahead, eyes bulging out. "Come closer and take a look," Junko invited, lowering her panties down her legs.

* * *

"Sir," Konoemon's secretary said, appearing on his office's doorstep, interrupting the old man's private meeting with the always sharply dressed Professor Takahata. "I hate to interrupt, but... this young lady insists it's extremely urgent."

"E-E-Evangeline McDowell-san sent me, Sir!" Reika said, peeking out from behind the older woman, with a distraught look on her face. "I don't know exactly what, but it seems something very bad is happening in the gymnasium!"

Konoe Konoemon lifted a bushy white eyebrow. "Eva-chan?"

* * *

"Am I not gorgeous?" Junko sat on the edge of the stage, spreading her legs wide and showing off her pink privacy to everyone, before smoothing a few of her fingers with her drool and then running them up and down her snatch. "Who wants to come up here and get some of this?" she chuckled shakily as she began masturbating with vigor, along small pants and wheezes.

Hiroko, Rie and Saki couldn't possibly have been any more surprised.

"Ah, ah, ahhh. Ahhhh! Ahhhh!" Junko moaned, still playing with herself while rotating her hips.

It had actually worked!

"It feels so good!" Junko cried, arching her back. "Look at me, look at me! Junko's pussy is melting! Please look at me! Please please look at my pussy! Onee-sama! Isn't it pretty?" she asked, turning around to be on her knees and free hand, facing away from the public but looking back at them, over her shoulder.

"Look deep inside my pussy! Good!" she moaned, flipping back once again, face up and fondling one of her breasts as well. "I'm cumming! I'm cumming!"

She drooled madly and sped her masturbation up, until the climax hit her. "I'm cumming!"

And she laughed insanely, relaxing on the last throes of her orgasm, her face twisted into a mask of delirious pleasure as a horrified Nami blocked her mouth with both hands, and the audience exhaled deep and roughly as a single person.

It was then when Konoemon, Takahata, and several other teachers stormed in to bring some semblance of normality back.

But the major damage already had been done.

* * *

Now, Takahata, Evangeline and Konoemon stood in a private room in the medical wing, next to the bed of a soundly sleeping Junko.

"Witchcraft, no doubt. Black magic," the Headmaster summed up for the benefit of the man who couldn't perform or sense magic and the woman who had been cut from her own connection to it. He had just finished examining the girl, and unlike most other situations where he was near to an attractive young woman, he was grim and serious instead of his usual jovial, lighthearted nature.

Evangeline nodded, sounding no less dark. "I recognized it as soon as I saw. The Dancing Woman."

"Well," Takahata said, looking at the scowling vampire. "Good thing we have an expert on the subject at hand, then."

"If you're suggesting I did it, you should damn well know I couldn't even if I wanted to," Eva said. "And if you're implying I should be doing your legwork, you must have taken more blows to the head than I thought. Why don't you go ask Nagi instead?"

"Eva-chan," Konoemon said. "If you help us with it, I promise I'll put a good word on you for Nagi-kun, next time I see him. I'd say helping our student body would definitely put you closer to the light, wouldn't you?"

Evangeline snorted. "And if I don't do it, you'll tell Nagi he should keep the spell on me, won't you? Figures. So, what are you going to do with the children? Erase their memories from this?"

Konoemon shook his head. "Too complicated. Too many of them at once, and it'd be difficult giving them all the same faked memories, under the present circumstances. Besides, there were cameras in the gymnasium. We'll chalk it up to a case of stress induced hysteria, or someone spiking her drink, at worst ... Takamichi-kun, call Doctor Kikuchi and ask him to work up a psychological report, will you?"

"Sir, he died in the Second Impact, remember?" his subordinate asked.

"Oh, yes, I do now. Ah. What a pity, he was a good man. Well, then, call Kansai and tell them to send us one of their best specialists. Now, Eva-chan, while we do appreciate and trust your expertise, please do try to keep your recent protégé out of the whole magic business, will you?"

"She isn't my protégé, she's just - Oh, forget it!" Eva waved a hand. "But yes, I'll keep her out of it. The girl just doesn't have the stomach for that kind of affairs. Yet."

"Yet?" Takahata echoed.

Evangeline smirked and shrugged. "Just like you didn't, long ago."

* * *

Kozono Nami stood right outside the medical bay, lightly chewing on the knuckles of her right hand, something she only did when out of public sight and extremely nervous. Of course, she was alone. No one, not even the other members of the Council, had wanted to come along. Right now, Junko was PR poison, and what was worse, soon Nami's own reputation would be tainted as well, through association. What had that stupid girl been thinking? She never seemed to be into drugs before.

To make a bad afternoon even worse, Takashiro and her two friends were approaching her. Biting on her lower lip bitterly, Nami readied herself for a confrontation.

"How's Mochida-san doing?" Takashiro asked.

"Not even half as bad as you'll be if I learn you had something to do with this," Nami promised.

"Still so cocky, 'girlfriend'?" Saki taunted. "Watch your steps, or you'll be the next to dance!"

"Saki-chan!" Rie hissed.

Nami blinked. "What do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean?" Saki further challenged, fists cocked on her hips.

"Saki, we didn't come here to pick fights," Hiroko told her. "Regardless, President, you shouldn't keep mocking magic. Stay out of our way, and we'll stay out of yours. Tell Mochida-san we wish her well," she flatly stated, before walking away at a steady pace. After a moment or two, Rie and Saki followed her.

Nami, confused and intrigued, watched them go in silence.

It couldn't possibly be, could it? She'd never believed in superstitions and nonsense. Those three weirdos just had to be taking advantage of the situation to boast and kick her while she was down.

And yet...

* * *

Shortly after, on the rooftop of the main academic building, Hiroko, Rie and Saki stood in conference, under the reddish afternoon sky.

"Don't ever do something like that again, Saki," Hiroko chided. "Revealing our hand like that, and to the President, to boot! Who already had a grudge against us!"

"I'm sorry, but even if she believed it, how could she ever prove it?" the blonde asked.

"All the same," the club's leader said, "be more careful from now on. Okay?"

"Anyway, maybe it didn't even have anything to do with us, right?" asked Rie.

"But, it's too much to be a coincidence!" protested Saki. "We did it, what else could it be? Isn't that right, Hiroko?"

"All signs point that way, but research must be fully proved before we accept the results as absolute truth," Takahiro lectured. "I suggest translating another spell and seeing if -"

"Um... Excuse me?" a low, hesitating male voice asked from the other end of the rooftop. The girls turned around to look at the really ugly and gangly boy who had just stepped up to approach them.

"Do I know you?" Saki frowned.

"W-Well... I know you, at least," he gulped, staring down at his feet. "My name's Hiratani, and I'd like to ask a favor from you."

"What kind of favor?" asked Hiroko, as controlled as ever.

"I was, I was actually close to you, and to Kozono-sama, when you talked to her."

"Where?" asked a suspicious Rie. "We never noticed your presence there!"

"Ah, um, you'll see, it's not like I make a habit out of following her around, but -"

"Oh, a stalker," Saki huffed. "Stalkers are stealthy like that." Then she looked at the OTHER other end of the roof and growled, "You'd better leave already, Matoi-chan!"

Rie gasped, looking as well at the tiny kindergarten student with short black hair who stood there. "Ah! She was here?!"

"Yes, always," Saki rubbed her temples before explaining to Hiratani, "See, I used to be her nanny, and I think she ... grew fond of me..."

"Ahhhhhh," the boy slowly said.

_JIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII..._ went the piercing glare of the little girl as she obeyed and headed down the stairs, never stopping staring at Saki as she did so.

After a few moments of waiting to make sure she really was gone, Saki addressed Hiratani again. "So then, between here and there, how much have you heard about us?"

"I, I, I want to hire your services, I beg you!" he gasped.

"... that much, huh?" Hiroko asked, frowning in contemplation. Then, after tapping on her chin with two fingers for a few seconds, she added, "I think I already know the answer, but why do you need our services, anyway?"

* * *

Reika had been cleaning her classroom after classes, humming to herself, when she noticed Eva-chan was standing on the doorstep, looking at her with a truly strange, coldly unreadable expression.

"Oh, Eva-chan!" she stopped what she was doing immediately. "I didn't hear you coming, sorry!"

"For the last time, don't call me Eva-chan!" the short girl hissed. "Listen, Kitami, I'm going to be very busy, maybe for two days, maybe for a whole week, so take care of yourself in the meanwhile, okay? And don't drop by the cabin again until I tell you to, either."

"...oh?" Reika blinked. "But, but, have I done anything b-"

"It's not about you, girl!" an annoyed Evangeline waved a hand. "I've got important business to handle and you'd just get in the way, that's all. I also wanted to ask you ... do you know of anyone around here who claims to know about magic?"

"Huh? But, for Eva-chan, who is so knowledgeable about the academy, to ask a newbie like me -"

"Kitami," Eva told her. "I know of all sorts of things one should know about, that's true. But I never bother to keep myself up to date with the trivial minutia you children entertain yourselves with. So tell me, and you'd better be honest, who around these places has ever boasted about pulling off magic tricks, you know, stuff like that?"

Reika pressed a fist against her own mouth and giggled briefly. Eva-chan was always so cute, when she, of all people, called others 'children'. However, her stare, while very cute, was also very scary, so Reika quickly recomposed herself. "W-Well, there's Takashiro Hiroko-san and her two friends, Rie-san and Saki-san. They spend a lot of time giving tarot readings and going through books on the occult, and I think they had a club on that sort of thing, but ... the Council disbanded it recently, over a lack of enough members to ... oh! Wait, are you saying -?" Then she laughed and lightly bopped the palm of a hand against Eva's forehead. "Silly Eva-chan, magic isn't real! There's no way they might be behind what happened to Mochida-san, so you don't have to be afraid!"

"... silly?!" Eva growled viciously, swatting Reika's hand away. "Why, you! Out of all the mistakes I've - Never mind! Just watch those clumsy steps of yours while I'm away, will you? Honestly, you're almost as bad as Nagi."

"Who's Nagi?" a curious Reika asked, but by now Eva-chan was already storming down the hallway and out of sight. "How can someone so small, young and cute be so cranky?" she wondered aloud before shrugging to herself and returning to her work.

When she was almost done, with her back to the door and placing the wet mop back into its bucket, she felt the presence again on the doorstep. "I'm done now, Eva-chan! I see you changed your - ahhhh," she said, after turning around and finding Kozono Nami there instead.

The President smiled. "Why, good afternoon, Kitami-san. Nice to see you here, so late. That's real dedication to your duties."

"Ahhh... well, yes, thank you! I'm sorry it took me so long, I'm too slow for my own good, um... so, how's Mochida-san doing, anyway?"

"She'll live through her shame, I'm sure," Nami shrugged. "I can't believe she was my... best friend and confidante for so long, and yet she could keep that filthy, dark side hidden from me the whole time. It seems I need to find better, more honest, friends," she purred, walking in and closing the door behind herself. "Friends like you, Kitami-san."

She gulped. "Really? President, I'm flattered, but ..."

"Just call me Nami-san. Or Nami-chan, even," she said, walking even closer, and definitely well into Reika's comfort zone. "You need friends your own age, as well. Let the children play with the children and let me guide you into the wonderful world of... mature relationships."

"Th-That's a very kind offer, but I'm afraid -"

"Afraid? Why, but if there's nothing to be afraid of!" Nami was almost breathing on her face now. "I can help you far more than that little gaijin ever could. Just ask me for anything, and I'll give it to you. Anything. You could be... the second most powerful... student of all..." she huskily said, before quickly leaning forward to kiss Reika's lips.

Reika froze in terror and disgust, eyes wide. Her panic only increased when one of Nami's hands came up to her right breast and began massaging it, roughly, feeling the nipple under the cloth and quickly hardening it.

"Come on, Kitami-chan," Nami murmured, breaking the kiss at last. "Don't be a fool. Don't reject me! Anyone in this campus would kill for this chance. I want you, and if you don't want me yet, I can change that very quickly. Just give me a chance," she hummed, running a hand up and down Reika's smooth leg.

"No! No!" Reika cried. "Let me go! I don't want this!"

"But-" Nami said, smiling at her, right before being harshly slapped across the face. As she reeled back in shock more than physical pain, Reika pushed her aside, quickly grabbed her bag, and ran out the door and down the hallway, bawling her eyes out.

Holding her aching cheek in a hand, and crying bitter tears of rage and disappointment, Nami seethed madly, her face growing crimson. Why did women keep letting her down? At this rate, she'd have to end up finding herself a -

No. Never that. She'd land herself one Kitami Reika, one way or another, soon. As soon as possible.

Or, at the very least, failing that, she'd get revenge for this insult, instead.

* * *

The third spell Hiroko had managed to translate had been one to open any and all locks, so it had been easy to get access to Nami's locker while the President pursued her latest romantic infatuation. Quickly slipping the paper doll into Nami's schoolbag right afterwards had likewise been a piece of cake. Then, the Rose Cross trio closed the locker again and retreated before the furious Kozono returned to get her things and leave in a huff.

"I'm actually thrilled about all this, you know?" Saki asked the next morning, as the three walked to school together. "I know it's going to work, I just know it!"

Rie made a face. "Maybe, but even so, it's kind of overdoing it, don't you think? I mean, that guy is, like, sheesh... too much!" she cringed.

"Someone that ugly inside deserves someone that ugly outside," Saki lectured, with a winning smile. "What's the problem, Rie-chan? Taking pity on her? You know she'd never return the favor, don't you?"

"It's just..." Rie sighed. "... well, Mochida was a bitch to us, true, but she never ruined our lives like we -"

_"Shhhh," _Hiroko quietly hushed her, as they approached the entrance of the temporarily mixed main academy, and thus the crowds of students heading the same way as them. "Keep a cool head about it, Rie. And you too, Saki. Finding too much solace on it is as bad as regretting it. Keep thinking of the research, the discovery, and nothing else."

Saki chuckled. "Aw, c'mon. Like you don't feel really good about it too, when you can bring a bitch down a peg and... and speak of the devil!" she said, as they saw the familiar white limousine pulling up next to the sidewalk where Kitami Reika had been crouching down while feeding the same stray dog she had met on her first day in Mahora.

The trio stopped at a prudent distance, watching from afar as Nami came out the car, making Reika stand up with visible discomfort. "Good morning, Kitami-san," the heiress greeted her, with a polite smile, as if the events from the day before had never happened at all. "How are you doing? I hope you aren't still upset at me."

Reika said nothing, only giving her a sharp, stern glare.

Since the blonde was not screaming for help, and no one had called Nami yet to summon her to the Headmaster's office, Nami correctly guessed the girl just didn't feel she could denounce her successfully. So she decided to push her luck further and added, in a normal tone that wouldn't catch the attention from any casual passerby, "I'm really sorry over what transpired yesterday. These latest few days have been too stressful for me. What if we make a clean start from today? I promise I'll be more understanding from now on."

Reika kept on saying nothing, but staring accusingly.

Absently, Nami sank her upper teeth into her lower lip. "I'm trying," she said, "to effect a reasonable reconciliation."

"A reconciliation," Reika coldly replied, "implies that we ever had any kind of relationship to start with."

Nami scowled as if she had just been stung, but as she opened her mouth to answer, she found the words leaving it before they could be uttered, leaving a fascinated silence in their place.

For she has just seen, walking through the crowd with the air of an oppressed spectre, a gray living dead shuffling through a world that had no place for him, a young man who seemed to strike a kind chord within her soul. She had seen him before, repeatedly, and never paid him any attention, even when he approached her with a confession of love. However, seeing him like that, somehow, now had caused a different reaction in Nami. It was as if she had just felt a new link to him, as if witnessing his sadness and misery suddenly enlightened her about her own disgraces and failures. Moving past the ungrateful girl who scorned her, she quickly moved towards the devoted lover who no doubt remained steady despite her own scorn.

"Hiratani-kun!" Nami called out.

Reika blinked. "What."

"Hiratani-kun!" Nami stopped before the startled boy, immediately drawing the attentions of most students in the crowd as well. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you again! I've treated you so badly before! Could you ever forgive me, please?"

From the back of the assembled masses, Saki whistled. "What did I tell you?"

"Oh my God, I still can't believe it!" Rie gasped.

A smile tugged on the corners of Hiroko's mouth. But she remained silent.

"Kozono-sama, what, what, why-" the boy babbled, as she grabbed his bony, large hands in her small, delicate ones.

"I'm sorry about my answer from the other day. Today, I've been inspired by Heavens to see how wrong I was!" Nami grandly declared, in a way that a certain Yukihiro heiress, many years from then, would have found to be exaggerated. "To make up for it, God has told me I must repay your kindness to the best of my capacities!"

"... is this some sort of weird attempt to make me jealous?" Reika quietly wondered to herself.

"Oh hell, is everyone going crazy nowadays?" a random student asked aloud.

"This is just plain disgusting."

"It's a prank, right? Never expected it from the Prez, but-"

"It's the beauty and the beast!"

"Silence, philistines!" Nami barked to the crowd who had been chattering amongst themselves, causing them to take a collective step back. She hugged Hiratani to herself, pressing her breasts against his chest, while all members of the Council present ran for the infirmary, desperate to get themselves tested before they too became the latest victims of whatever was striking at their ranks now. "I'm going to teach you tolerance like I should have done long ago! Yes, I will teach you the wonders of true love, brought by looking past the appearances and into a noble person's heart instead! Come with me, Hiratani-kun! Never mind those who'd be jealous of your good fortune!"

"Uhhhhh!" Hiratani babbled as she dragged him along for classes, leaving a dual trail of floating hearts behind.

The student body gasped, gawked and choked.

"It's a sign of the times! Another meteorite is upon us!"

"After seeing that, I think I'd welcome the meteorite."

"I can't believe that freak's gonna lose his virginity before m- Never mind!"

"When are the next elections supposed to be, anyway?"

While they walked together and she nestled her head under his chin, trailing small circles on his scrawny chest with a finger, Nami whispered to the rather stiff, in more than one sense, boy, _"Hey, what if, after classes, we meet at the council's office? The others won't be there today..."_

"Huh, uh, why, of c-course!" he squeaked, his skin crawling up and down, and his face making the best smile it could manage, despite his complete lack of experience at it.

"Gotcha," Saki grinned from between her wide, clenched grin.

"Well," Rie sighed, "I hope you're happy now."

"I am, I am!" Saki gushed gleefully.

Hiroko only rubbed her chin and hummed. "Only one more thing to check on," she finally said, "before we can declare this a success."

"I mean, I'm not jealous, of course," Reika said to herself. "Of course not. No, really!" she assured the dog, who seemed to be looking up at her with what she took as a skeptical expression on his doggy face.

* * *

"Oh, Hiratani-kun!" Nami giggled as they shared a joyful carrousel ride at the local fair. "I hadn't had this much fun in years!"

* * *

"Oh, Kozono-sama!" Hiratani said as they ate in an expensive restaurant surrounded by smooth, soft and lingering romantic music. "This is the best evening of my life."

"Please, just call me Nami-chan!"

"O-Okay, you call me Seiji, then..."

* * *

"Oh, Nami-chan!" Hiratani sighed, tears streaming down his face, as he held their newborn. "This is the fruit of our love!"

"I'm so happy, Seiji-kun!" she said from her bed.

* * *

Okay, so none of that happened that afternoon or evening, especially not that third scene. However, those events ran repeatedly through the minds of both Kozono and Hiratani all through the day. By the time they met again at the Student Council's office, they considered they had gone far enough into their relationship to start fucking already.

And fuck they did.

Now she sat on the desk from where she had directed many important meetings, naked save for her stockings and hair band, with a hand on Hiratani's scalp as the boy knelt between her legs, reduced to his pants and underwear, clumsily licking at her vulva and fondling her buttocks. He was nowhere as experienced or skilled as Junko, but that mattered little to Nami now. She still voiced her enthusiasm by giggling and writhing like a madwoman in his grasp.

"Hiratani-kun... Hiratani-kun... Hiratani-kun! Good... it's so, so good!"

After a few minutes of that, she made him lie on his back on the floor, pulled his pants and boxers down his spindly legs, and then rode his modest sized erection, sinking into the phallus and almost immediately bucking up and down on it, her large breasts bouncing as if they had a life of their own.

"Yes, Hiratani-kun... yes!"

"Nami-san..." he gasped dryly, "S-Sorry if it's not too good! This, this is my first time!"

"What are you talking about, this is great!" she gasped, keeping her eyes half closed and enjoying the pure physical sensations of the moment. "I'm so happy to be your first, Hiratani-kun. My cutte widdle Hiratani-kun!"

He grunted, pulling his head back. "Nami-san! I mean, Nami-chan! I'm, I'm going to-!"

"Come inside me, come!" she urged him, squeezing his member with her vaginal muscles as her buttocks slapped against his flesh, and she drooled copiously, all over him. "Oh yes, my Hiratani-kun!"

"Okay! I'm coming!" he yelled, and pumped his hips up against her, to ejaculate as much as he could, which he faintly realized was far more than he'd ever done while masturbating. There was so much it even flowed out of the jubilant Nami, who remained on top of him relaxing in a triumphant way. He'd never imagined, before that day, there could be a triumphant way to relax, but there was.

After that, he thought they were done, but she quickly fell back between his legs to fellate him, trying to turn him hard again. Against his expectations, it took him far less time than ever, after his self-ministrations, to regain rigidity, and so, in only minutes, he had her against a wall as he fucked her a second time.

"Hiratani-kun!"

"You're a naughty girl," he said to her, licking on her left breast.

"Yes, I am!" she said, closing her eyes and hugging him, caressing the ribs that stuck from his famished frame. "It's deep inside me! So great! So much better than, um, anything else!"

"Nami-chan," he panted, "can I do your ass next?"

"Hmmmm? Oh, sure thing, Hiratani-kun, you stud! Of course, do me wherever you want!" she smiled seductively at him and kissed his cheek. "Oh!" she said, reaching a new orgasm.

So shortly after, following a second fellatio, the boy, who normally would have been completely spent and feeling his groin on fire by then, after an equivalent number of handjobs, had her on the desk, on her stomach, as he pumped into her from behind, wincing at the painful tightness of her anus.

"Nami, Nami..." his voice cracked.

"Hiratani-kun is deep up my butt! Oh joy!" she cried. "Come in me! Give me your come!"

Standing right outside the office, the Rose Cross members listen and watched through a scrying spell Takashiro had just tried, and gotten right on the first attempt. It never ceased to amaze them, how quickly she mastered each spell after translating it. As much as they tried, it had taken Saki and Rie a lot of effort to even remotely follow up on her achievements. Not that this bothered them. Not at all.

"Oboy," Saki chuckled. "Is that cheesy, or what? They act as if they're in a bad porn movie."

Rie chewed on her lower lip. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think it's making me kind of horny."

"No way," Saki told her. "Really?!"

Rie blushed and nodded reluctantly.

"Oh, this is rich!" Saki laughed. "Gotta admit, though, the nerd's got a lot of stamina. Maybe it's true what they say about -"

"My theory is," Hiroko interrupted her, as analytical as ever, "that what we're observing is a side effect of using sexual magic. Remember, no one at the gymnasium could stop Mochida until she was done 'dancing'. Sexual spellcraft seems to have a residual range effect, affecting those around the target to facilitate its course, so be careful, you two. Keep your wits about yourselves, if you don't want to fall -"

In turn, she was interrupted by another voice from the other side of the hall. "You aren't that much better, Takashiro Hiroko. I'll give you some credit for your raw talent, but you're still a child dabbling in secrets beyond your limited understanding."

Surprised, the girls looked towards the source of the sarcastic tone, and saw a tiny blonde with green eyes in a junior high uniform smirking sharply at them.

"Hey, this isn't a place for-" Saki began.

"Silence, you fool!" Evangeline A.K. Mc Dowell commanded. "What have you hopeless idiots done? Why have the gods of fortune smiled upon you? To think, while I suffer deprived of my magic, this kind of power would go to three imbeciles with no idea -"

"Heeeeeeyyyyy, brat!" Saki hissed, as Rie blinked in confusion and Hiroko pondered the bizarre twist in a thoughtful silence. "Who do you think you are, to come here and insult us like that?"

"Who am I? If you truly had studied the black arts, you would recognize the greatest scourge that has ever plagued the mages! The Queen of the Night, the Mistress of Puppets! The Empress of Evil!"

Saki walked to her and pushed a finger against the little girl's forehead. "Go home and sleep, Goldilocks... whaaaaaaa?!" she finished as she was caught in a strong grip, then slammed against the floor very easily.

"Saki-chan!" Rie cried.

"Uuurrrgghhh, why you-" Saki hissed, her face turning red and then purple as the little girl keep her pinned in a vicious and inescapable choke hold, forcing her to slap a hand on the floor. "Let me go! Let me go already!"

Evangeline smirked at the other two girls. "Your luck, it would seem, continues to hold, morons. I should, and could, denounce this to the Headmaster, and have your memories erased forever. However, count yourselves fortunate that I am not, despite the expectations, anyone's enforcer."

"What?" Rie babbled. "I don't get it..."

"What do you want from us?" calmly asked Hiroko, who always kept an open mind on all possibilities. If that girl claimed to be some sort of sorceress, after all that had happened lately, she probably was.

As Evangeline let go of the wheezing and gasping Saki, she replied, "If you can pull these parlor tricks off on your own, then maybe, given enough time, and under my guidance... you could help me break a certain curse!"

* * *

Kitami Reika stopped before the cottage's door, and then just stared at it in silence.

_Eva-chan, I know you told me not to come, but..._

She was pale and sweaty, after the long walk through the woods. Even though she was getting used to covering that distance already (and to be fair, the practice was making her better at PE classes, as well) she was still not an athletic person. But that wasn't why she was sweating now.

_I don't want to bother you, but I'm confused, so confused, and I don't know who else to tell about this..._

No, what was she thinking? She couldn't possibly tell Eva-chan about that. Cranky, mature and cynical as she was, Eva-chan was still just a child, after all. She couldn't possibly take away what remained of her innocence.

_You'll see, the President, Kozono-san, has touched me, where she shouldn't have, and told me to..._

Reika ran a hand down her face. No, it couldn't be. Did it matter anymore, after all? Kozono-san had just gone after someone else, and most likely wouldn't bother her ever again. She was safe now. She didn't need to bother Eva-chan, or anyone else, about it.

And yet...

_I'd just want to, to spend some time with you again... since I don't have anyone else here. No one but Poppy-chan, that is, but he's only a puppy, and-_

And then, Eva-chan would simply tell her...

_"For the last time, don't call me Eva-chan!"_

And she'd slam her door on Reika's face.

So Reika sighed and turned around, heading back home through the woods, quiet and miserable. Alone.

It was her own fault, actually, as she told herself.

By now, she should have known good things just couldn't last.

* * *

**To be Continued**.


	2. Hiroko, Reika

**IMPORTANT WARNING:** The following fanfic is Bible Black inspired, but plays in a standard OverMaster, Unequally-like, shared crossover Mahora Academy (Mahou Sensei Negima!) that includes characters from a greater variety of manganime than any sane rational mind could take. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. If you are under eighteen, DON'T READ THIS. If you dislike hentai, ecchi, fanservice, crossovers, more crossovers, Negima, Bible Black, or Delicious Hostess Fruit Pies, DON'T READ THIS.

_Bible Black_ belongs to Active Software/Kururi Active.

_Mahou Sensei Negima!_, _Love Hina_, _UQ Holder_, _A.I. Love You_, _My Santa_ and _Earth Defense Force Mao-chan_ all belong to Akamatsu Ken and Kodansha.

All other characters and series mentioned here belong to their respective owners.

Not making any money out of writing any of this.

Thanks to Darkenning for his proofreading and support.

* * *

**OverMaster Corrupts Every Work Of Fiction Ever**.

* * *

**Bible Black Origins: Black Altar**.

* * *

Gathered at their living quarters, the three girls waited as Evangeline sat on Hiroko's bed, then gestured towards them with a hand, eagerly. "The book. Show it to me."

"Not so fast, Goldie," huffed Saki. "How can we be sure you won't try to run away with it, or even destroy it? We still know next to nothing about you, after all!"

"Oh, if I try anything, I'm sure three tall, busty and strong sempai like you will be able to stop me!" Eva mockingly told her. "Surely, my earlier easy victory against you happened only because you weren't really trying all that hard, and not because you were a pushover!"

"Why, you cheeky-!"

"Calm down, Saki," Hiroko requested, walking closer with the book of magic and handing it over to the tiny student. "Let's do what she says. After all, at this point she could just tell the Headmaster about us if we refuse her."

"Smart girl," Evangeline nodded. "And that is why you always should try to master the memory erasing spells before anything else. Well, what do we have here?" she wondered aloud, holding the book at arm's length. "The Bible Black... we meet again."

"Again? It was you who put the book in Library Island?" Rie asked.

"Oh, that's where it was? All this time spent searching through there for an escape to my... condition, when I never could find anything useful, and yet you did? What a truly unfair world," McDowell snarled.

Rie smiled and patted herself on the chest. "You should have recruited the Library Exploration Club! When it comes to finding books, no one can match us!"

"... I'll keep that in mind for the future," Eva dryly promised.

"Wait, if you had that book in your power before, as it seems... how did you lose it? And why didn't you use it before to fix... whatever the hell's wrong with you?" Saki asked.

"I never had a real need for it before," Eva shrugged. "And technically the book was never mine, it belonged to an acquaintance who parted ways with me on less than friendly terms. Hopefully this means he's dead by now. It wouldn't shock me. This book has a tendency to bring ruin to its owners, if they aren't very careful. And often even when they are."

"Oh boy," Rie gulped.

"We'll keep that in mind," a still fearless Hiroko replied.

"Until three years ago, when I was forcibly enrolled at this damned school, I never had any use for the incantations contained here. My magic greatly surpassed that of the playground enchantments of this pamphlet. However, due to my damnable nemesis, I've been trapped in this academy and left mostly powerless. Hopefully, this book's magic might be strong enough to counter that man's," Eva reminisced bitterly.

"Wait there, if that man defeated your magic, and your magic is allegedly greater than the book's, then how do you expect the book could trump that man's-" Saki started.

Eva kicked her on a shin.

"Ouch! You little ghoul!" Saki cringed in pain.

"Please don't kick me for asking this," Hiroko said. "But, three years ago, the academy wasn't active. That was around the time of the-"

"Yes, and I spent that year alone here, which was much better than spending my time here trapped with the likes of you," Eva nodded. "Still, I'm a woman of honor, so, should you happen to help me break the curse that binds me here, I would reward you richly, beyond the limits of your paltry imaginations."

"Isn't that nice!" Saki huffed again. "Okay, let's assume we believe that. What were you before losing all your powers like that? Succubus? Demon? Tooth fairy?"

"Saki," Hiroko grumbled.

Eva pulled on a corner of her mouth, showing her canine teeth, which still were rather sharper than the average. "Vampire. Greatest of all vampires, at that. The Vampiric Sorceress of the West, with a bounty of millions on my head. I was ambushed and betrayed by the most powerful mage of this era, and even so, it took him a lot of dumb luck and cheating to seal my powers away. As it is now, I regain a small measure of my powers every full moon, but not enough to escape this campus. Perhaps, however, through the rituals featured within these pages, I could escape at last and deliver my burning vengeance!"

"Cool!" Rie cooed, eyes glinting. "Count me in!"

"Oh, so _now_ you're eager," Saki grumbled.

"Well, she's a better saleswoman than you are!" Rie argued.

Eva chuckled, flipping through the pages. "Don't worry about the language barrier. I'm an expert in classic French and Latin, even the variety of Mundus Magicus Latin used in this book."

"Mundus Magicus?" Hiroko echoed.

"You don't need to worry about that now," Eva handwaved it. "Now, we'll need more initiates for the more elaborate rituals that could help my cause. We have to establish a coven, with a Great Priestess - that will be me, of course - and at least seven adepts. Bring me four more followers, and we are all set."

Hiroko smiled. "That won't be a problem, now we have the book. As a matter of fact, I know just the perfect first person to recruit," she mused, with the ghost of an evil smile on her lips.

* * *

"I want to die," Mochida Junko said, sitting on her infirmary bed, hugging her knees and keeping her bedsheets covering her all the way up to her shoulders.

The tall man sitting next to her bed exhaled. "How?"

The girl blinked and looked at him. "Excuse me?"

"Well," he said softly. "Experience has taught me that, while I should be telling you 'that won't solve anything' and 'you'll make your loved ones unhappy that way', all that will just make you think I don't understand your situation, and it won't make you feel any better. So I decided I should ask you how would you'd do it, instead."

The girl's face twisted into a pained scowl. "Are you, are you mocking me?"

"No," he said, solemn and stoic. "I'd never mock a student, much less one in need. I've never found human suffering to be amusing, but then, I'm afraid there are very few things that amuse me, period."

Junko lowered her head and tightened the hug on her legs. "That's why you're here, isn't it? You were afraid I'll kill myself, even before I told you."

"It did indeed cross the Headmaster's mind," the man nodded. "Not mine, because I knew Mochida-kun would never do that, even if she talked about it, because Mochida-kun is far stronger than that, but I decided to make him happy."

She snorted angrily. "I'm not strong! A strong person wouldn't have done that!"

"No, the strongest people I've ever met have also, often, made the biggest mistakes I've ever witnessed. The difference between those mistakes and the mistakes others make is that the strong people recover from them, no matter how hard the fall may seem at first. Which is right what you'll do, Mochida-kun."

"It was ... I can't even describe how it was," she shuddered. "I wish I could say I don't remember it, but that's the hard part, I remember everything, see, Sensei? It just seemed ... such a good idea at the time, for some reason. At first I couldn't even figure out what was happening to me, but as soon as it hit me, it all became so clear, so ... enlightening," she recalled with disgust. "I wanted for them all to see me, and when, when I was done, I felt so proud... so alive... What, what if it ever happens again? Am I going crazy, because if so, I'd really prefer being dead, I, I..."

"You aren't going crazy," he told her. "You aren't the first person who's gone through that. It's usually an once-in-a-lifetime event, like Doctor Mashida said. We'll tell everyone, and eventually, they'll not only understand, but forget it all. You only have to be patient, and we'll be with you every step of the way. I promise."

"Unlike Nami," she snorted, bitterly. "She hasn't visited me even once."

"She was here once, while you slept -"

"And has she returned ever since? No, she hasn't! After this, who would ever want to be my, my, my friend anymore! I can't blame her, but still, that hurts so much, too!" she sobbed.

After a moment of silence, Takahata-sensei said, "Mochida-kun. There was one time when I wanted to take my own life, too. I had failed someone, the person who mattered the most for me in this world, and I lost that person because of my incompetence. To this day, despite what others have told me, I think I could have ... saved that person, from himself, we might say. It took some harsh words from someone who also thought he had nothing to live for for me to realize I actually had too much to do, too many I couldn't let down. Just like you have now."

"That story isn't even true," she grunted.

"It is," he insisted. "I'm not saying our situations are the same. Or that they should have the same exact outcome. I know they won't be the same in that I'll never use harsh words on you. I only want to beg you ... forgive us. For not noticing sooner."

"That there always was something wrong with me?"

"That something wrong was happening to you," he replied. "Please, Mochida-kun. Don't make me lose another person I care about. Not when that person is far younger, far more brimming with promise, than the one I lost."

She sniffled and ran the back of a hand over her eyes. "My parents will never forgive this."

"They will. That's what parents do," he said. "So, how were you planning to kill yourself?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'd walk into traffic. Who knows? I'll think of that later."

"No, you won't. You'll think of your life, not of your death, until you realize the former is far more important than the latter. And even then you won't think of clogging the traffic around our beautiful academy with your beautiful corpse either."

"My beautiful-" despite everything, she couldn't suppress a dry, jaded chuckle. "As expected from someone nicknamed Death Glasses. You're so weird."

"Most of us are," he shrugged. "So maybe, someday, we could use some new weird staff member with previous knowledge of the campus and the student body to join us. The pay isn't that good, but that's still something better than walking into the traffic, isn't it?"

She lied on her back, staring at the ceiling. "The teacher who once stripped naked and masturbated before a whole audience."

"The teacher who once fought two gang members naked in a public bath and put one in a coma," he sheepishly replied, pointing at himself. "Believe me, Mochida-kun, if there's a place in this world where one can bounce back from the worst, most humbling incidents ever, that place is Mahora."

She slowly looked at him. "... can I hear that story, please?"

He nodded. "It was ten years ago, after I returned from a, let's call it an urgent business trip overseas. I got drunk in a celebration with a friend of mine, named -"

Mochida thought it was a really stupid and crazy story that possibly couldn't have happened, at least not that way.

But she still kind of liked it.

* * *

Meanwhile, after using the toilet and the men's baths, Hiratani Seiji was humming to himself while heading back home, feeling for once quite content with his luck. Earlier, shortly after classes, he and Nami had another illicit encounter, this time in the bushes behind the school, and the thrill and danger of doing it in the open, where anyone could possibly find them due to a random twist of fate, had only added to the excitement. If anything, it seemed to have been too good for Nami, who complained rather strongly over only doing it three times. But even with the extra boost in his stamina he had felt of late (which he suspected might be part of Takashiro-san's package deal as well, for which he felt even more grateful) the boy still had his limits, ones that seemed, even now, far less than his lover's.

Maybe he'd pay Takashiro-san for a bonus in that field, next time they met.

"Hiratani-kun," he heard her voice again, not long after he'd left the baths. "Just the man I was looking for. Sorry about dropping by here, but you aren't the only one who can stalk and ambush the opposite sex right outside their baths."

"Oh, h-hey, Takashiro-san!" he greeted, clumsily turning around on his heels to face the red-haired student, who was alone this time. "I was thinking of looking for you as well. Ah, you see, Nami-chan wants more-"

"So it's worked? Oh my, such great news," Hiroko feigned a pleased surprise. "A shame, then, I have to bring news that could ruin that new found happiness, Hiratani-kun."

His face went abruptly pale. "W-W-What do you mean?"

"Well," Hiroko sighed. "The Rose Cross Club is still officially disbanded, so we can't possibly keep performing magic. For that, we'd need resources, a proper workspace for our ceremonies, and above all, new members. Without those conditions, we might have to stop our research, and that might include suspending the spells we had already deployed. _C'est la vie_."

"N-NO! You can't do this to me! Not now! Not after I've paid you!"

"You paid us to make the President fall for you," she admitted. "And we delivered on that, fair and square. You never specified we had to permanently leave her in love with you. It makes no sense, expecting for a finite payment to cover an eternal love spell, wouldn't you agree? What, don't you think the President's love is worth paying a small periodic fee for the rest of your life? Or the rest of your crush, whatever."

He gulped, visibly shaken. "O-Of course, that's a small price to pay, but-!"

"But it isn't enough," Hiroko mused. "For starters, we need a renewed license -"

"I'll talk with Nami-chan! I'll convince her to renew it!"

"Well, I'm sure that won't take a lot, coming from you. But we also need at least four more members, and I'm not sure even the President can supply us with that."

"I'll be one of your members!" the boy despaired.

"Seriously? Oh, that's so nice of you, Hiratani-kun! Still, that leaves us with three vacancies."

"I, I'll tell Nami-chan to join as well! I'm sure she can convince two more to complete your numbers!"

"That sounds great!" Hiroko brought her hands together. "You came up with this idea, all by yourself, Hiratani-kun? Now that's a reliable boy. You don't see many of those today."

Hiratani chuckled dumbly, blushing and stopping himself from commenting how that sounded like such an old-woman thing to say. "Aw, shucks, th-thanks."

"Aaaaand maybe," Hiroko tickled his chin for the final nail, "if you ever grow tired of her, we could get you a chance with Rie-chan, you know? She told me, watching you and the President going at it, she went all wet down there."

"R-R-Really?! G-Gee, that's really swell, I mean, it's a honor, but Nami-chan and me - w-wait! How, how were you watching us?!"

"We're witches, Hiratani-kun, never forget that," Hiroko said, pulling the finger back, lightly scratching his skin as she did so. "And remember, a witch's revenge - actually, three witches' revenge - is a terrible thing for a mortal to endure. So you'd better not fail us, or you'll end up wishing you had remained alone and unpopular. Do you understand, Hiratani-kun?"

He nodded very stiff, and not in the good way. "L-L-L-Loud and clear, Ma'am!"

"That's excellent, Hiratani-kun," nodded Hiroko as she walked away, back into the shadows. "Tell Nami-san to call us as soon as you've convinced her. We're on a tight schedule for big things. And you're both a key part of it."

"I, I, I'll do just that, I mean, she will, I will!"

But she was gone by now.

Hiratani sighed, crumbling down into a ball of nerves. "What have I gotten myself into?!" he asked no one in particular.

* * *

"What, precisely, is the meaning of this?!" Evangeline growled viciously, holding up a paper doll for Rie, Saki and Hiroko to see.

"What, aren't you allegedly all knowing about these things?" Saki snorted. "It's a doll that makes people fall in love with-"

"I know what it is, you numbskull!" Eva roared, and the walls of the Rose Cross' living room trembled. "They've been all across the school today! You've been selling them, haven't you! I can't believe you are so stupid! After I warned you about the need to act in secrecy, too! Didn't you listen to anything I said?!"

"Eh, what's the point in getting so fired up about it?" asked Rie. "It's not like the teachers will take it seriously, even if they learn about it. They'll believe it's another superstition, like declaring yourself under the World Tree."

Evangeline hissed, clutching on her own face with a hand. "Do you think all the teachers are as dumb as you are? If you keep this up, and if the charms you've been selling actually work, Takahata and some of the others are bound to learn, sooner than later. You're fortunate several of the magical adepts either perished in the cataclysm or are far too occupied at the moment, but even so, you've placed this enterprise in great risk before it even starts... and all over your greed!"

"But we actually need money to operate, and I don't see you funding us!" Saki complained.

"McDowell-sama," Hiroko said patiently. "More than money, this is about gaining adepts, and for that, we need to make a reputation for ourselves. No one will take us seriously and follow us unless we display some actual power-"

"That's not the way to achieve that!" Eva snapped. "Before showing off what you can do, select your targets carefully! And only reveal yourselves to those you think you can trust! Although by this point, I don't trust your collective good judgment at all! You don't have a single working braincell between the three of you!"

Someone rang at the door.

"I'll take it," a nonplussed Hiroko said, walking past the bristling Eva for the door and opening it, facing the student with a nice body and long black hair with purplish hues standing on the hallway, with a haunted expression on her pale face. "Good afternoon, Katsuragi-san," she said, recognizing the girl from her class who, according to the rumor mill, had spent two years in a special institution before recovering enough to attend Mahora. No one ever tried to approach her except for Akagi, and Akagi was another nutcase with no social life who cared about nothing but science books and taking care of stray cats. "How can we help you?"

"I heard you were looking for new club members, before they close your club," Katsuragi Misato said, in a low, stilted tone. "I, I never believed in such things, but I heard your good luck charms were working for everyone who bought them, and even though Rit-chan said -"

"Please come in," Hiroko gently ushered her in, closing the door after her. "Sit down, please. This is Eva-chan, our newest member. And new President."

"Never call me Eva-chan," Evangeline icily warned. She wasn't taking that crap from Kitami, much less from any of these idiots.

Katsuragi nodded rigidly towards Eva, then told Hiroko and the curiously approaching Rie and Saki, "Can you... can you contact the dead, please? I'll join you if you can do that."

"Contacting the dead? Even if it works, that's a risky enterprise," Evangeline said before any of them could answer. "More often than not, those who try it end up joining those they summoned. For what purpose would you care to converse with the dead?"

"It's... about my father," Katsuragi meekly said, looking at her own feet. "He, he died three years ago, and, and I'd like to talk with him again... even if only once..."

Eva sighed dryly, then said, more sympathetically than her custom, "Child. If he's gone, he's gone. And if you've stayed, you've stayed. That's the way it is and it's meant to be. There are many borders one shouldn't attempt to cross when it comes to the occult, and this is one of them."

"So you can't do it?" Misato asked, looking even more distressed.

"I didn't say that," Evangeline said. "But -"

"If there's a way, any way, I'll keep looking for it even if you won't tell me," Katsuragi's voice gained sudden, sharp steel. "No matter what, I won't give up on it. Why won't you help me? Are you afraid, or can't you really do it? If there's a price to pay for it, I'll pay it myself! You don't have to worry about yourselves! Just tell me how, and I'll do it on my own!"

"Eva-sama," Rie chimed in, "we can't allow ourselves the luxury of turning them down."

"Yeah, she looks like a good girl, doesn't she?" added Saki, leaning closer to the fuming vampire. "Let's give her at least a trial period."

Evangeline scoffed, examining Katsuragi's tearful face. "I don't know..."

It felt wrong, in a way. Almost as much as initiating Kitami would have been.

"Well?" Katsuragi pressed on.

"One shouldn't dabble in the occult without a clear mind," Eva argued. "And you don't sound like you have one at all."

"I'll do anything! If you need me to pull my shit back together, I can do that! I just struggled past a condition the doctors gave me no hopes for! If I put my mind into it, I know I can do anything you ask of me!"

Eva exhaled, frankly annoyed at the gnat's insistence. "A test period," she cautioned.

Hiroko, Saki and Rie nodded, and Misato's eyes grew luminous.

"Fail the slightest bit in your duties and responsibilities during that period, and you'll be booted out immediately," Evangeline warned, cold and stern. "No second chances, no apologies, no explanations. Those are my conditions, and if you don't like them, the door's right there. Can you accept that?" she asked, hoping the answer would be 'No!'

"Yes!" Misato said energetically, and without hesitation.

_Ah, crap_, Evangeline thought. _What a real bother..._

* * *

The next day, Eva, Katsuragi, Hiroko, Rie and Saki waited on the rooftop, under another red twilight, but they didn't have to wait long. Whatever else could be said about Kozono Nami, she was never tardy, and shortly after the quintet's arrival, she made her presence known as well, closely followed by a cowering Hiratani.

"Seiji-kun gave me your message," Nami evenly said. "He told me you begged for my permission to let you continue your activities. While I don't understand why he'd care so much about you, other than the natural goodness of his heart, I still can't say no to him."

"Gee, aren't you two angels of mercy!" Saki growled out a corner of her mouth.

Nami looked at the two new members, feeling Katsuragi gulp under her glare. She finally said, "You've nearly filled your required membership quota, and that's good. Now, Seiji-kun has made a good case for my provisional partnership with your ranks, that being that my family would never approve my union with him. If you can supply us with a 'magical' solution to my parents' social objections, I will help you fill your numbers until you can do it on your own. Besides, anything that lets me spend more time away from Mochida is welcome," she sneered in disgust.

"My, how hard old friendships fall," Saki mused aloud.

"She renounced her right to call herself my friend as soon as she engaged into scandalous, illicit behavior!" Nami protested, hugging an arm of the visibly uncomfortable Hiratani. "That's why, from now on, I'll strive to spend my time only with moral, reasonable people like Seiji-kun!"

"Bravo, bravo," Evangeline gave a very half-hearted mock clap. "However, I'm sure someone of your breeding and distinction should have more to bring to our humble table than her mere presence. If you wish to be a member of our association, you will have to bring forth something better than that!"

"Eva-sama!" Rie hissed, not believing she would be willing to push their luck that much, so fast.

Nami scowled in bristling outrage for a moment, before her face smoothed just as quickly. "Indeed. I will give you better, more fitting headquarters, away from curious eyes, than the room you used to occupy." She turned her gaze on Rie. "You belong to the Library Exploration Club, don't you?"

Rie nodded. "Yeah, well, but... why do you ask?"

Nami smiled. "You'll see. Now, McDowell-san, I find it curious Kitami-san doesn't seem to be around you anymore."

"Forget about her!" Eva waved a hand dismissively. "You just got yourself someone who is much better, didn't you? The two of you make for a far better match than you and Kitami."

Nami blushed. "I, I, I never said that, it's just-!"

"Show us those headquarters, then," Eva sharply urged, folding her arms and tapping her foot. "That'll make for a much better topic than this."

Nami, again, swallowed her fury over being ordered around by an insolent gaijin before turning around on her heels, keeping Hiratani firmly held by an arm. "Follow me, and I'll show you, then!"

* * *

Shortly after, Misato shuddered as she followed the rest of them into a dark, wide chamber of stone walls somewhere deep beneath the ground level of Library Island. Hiratani seemed to share her reluctance, remaining very close to Nami and trembling slightly, while Evangeline, Hiroko and Saki looked mostly unimpressed and even bored. Only Rie smiled, looking all around with a fascinated glint in her eyes.

"Wow, this is so cool!" Morita gushed. "I never had been in this one! And the access passage is even relatively trap-free! How did you find it, President?"

Nami smirked proudly. "Secret of the trade, Morita-san. It fits your black magic motif rather well, don't you agree?"

"Completely!" Rie almost hopped around, examining all corners carefully, looking around for secret passages. "It's so atmospheric! So old fashioned! So intense!"

"So... creepy!" Katsuragi whimpered, hugging herself. Hiratani nodded his vigorous agreement. "It gives me bad vibes!"

"It'll work for the time being," Evangeline shrugged her shoulders.

"Sometimes you have good ideas, President!" Rie shook Nami's hands, and the rich girl thanked her with her first-ever smiled towards her. "How can we repay you for this...?"

"Oh, I think I know of just the right way to -" Hiroko began reaching with a hand towards Nami's forehead.

"Takashiro," Evangeline growled, making her stop. "I know what you're thinking. Don't even try it."

Nami blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"It doesn't matter, since she won't do it," Eva's glare pierced into Hiroko's eyes, enough to make her step back. "I won't have that happening as long as I'm the head of this club, is that understood?"

Hiroko absorbed the blow to her ironic revenge for a couple of moments before conceding, "As you wish, Eva-sama."

"Good," the short girl nodded. "Now, all we need is another member before proceeding with the first ceremony of this renewed club of ours."

Nami nodded. "I know right the person for it, as well. I can have her here by tomorrow."

"Efficiency, at last. I like that. Stay that way, Kozono, and you might become the second in command soon, unless someone else steps up her game." This was said with a brief smirk towards a flinching Hiroko. "If you can have her with us by then, we can fix the ceremony for this weekend. That'll be all for now, unless any of you have any questions."

"I have one!" Saki said. "What kind of ceremony are you talking about?"

"A summoning ritual, of course," Eva said. "Think of it as... getting ourselves a patron spirit to lead our respective enterprises to success."

"Like a mascot for the club?" Katsuragi shyly ventured.

"... something like that," McDowell said. "Don't sweat the details yet, I'll explain them as soon as our membership is complete."

"Our starting membership, you mean," Hiroko quickly added.

"Ah, my child, ultimately, that will depend on you," Evangeline pleasantly replied.

_As soon as I've broken the curse, you can do whatever you want, even break the spell on Kozono, for all I care_, she thought. _But then, you will have no one to blame but yourself for what will happen afterwards. You need to learn the meaning of hubris for yourself.__  
_  
Sadly, there was no one around yet who could call her out on her own hubris. Not that it would have actually helped anyone in the long run...

* * *

"Why didn't you let me do it?" Hiroko asked, as soon as Evangeline dismissed Nami, Misato and Hiratani, staying behind with the original Rose Cross in the crypt. "Why couldn't you let me have my revenge?"

"Because it would have been a petty, stupid and pointless move, when we still, regrettably, have a need for Kozono's support," Evangeline bitterly replied. "Think about it, Takashiro Hiroko. Did you really think she would have remained steadily at our side after you broke the spell? Don't you realize how that could backfire on you at all? What in the world is wrong with you?"

"As long as we have the book, it's not like she could ever do anything against us," Hiroko shrugged.

"In other words, you are drunk with power, you careless child, and yet your grasp on that power is tenuous at best," Evangeline lectured, actually wagging a finger at her. "Be sure to remedy that, before it becomes your downfall."

"Wait, are you telling me Hiro-chan was going to break the love curse?" Saki asked. "Oh man, the look on Kozono's face then! It'd have been totally worth it!"

"No. No, it wouldn't have!" Eva protested. "This isn't a mere game we are playing here. The path of dark magic devours those who treat it as a plaything. As long as I'm in command here, and until we have reached our respective goals, we will exercise caution. That's what we need to do if we are to have any hopes of succeeding!"

Rie frowned. "Hiro-chan, weren't you who told us we shouldn't treat this as something personal? That it was only ever about the research, about the discovery? I'm not saying it wouldn't have been cool, but would you have jeopardized that in the name of screwing over the Prez?"

"Fine, fine, I'll admit I let my feelings take over for a moment," Hiroko sighed, frankly annoyed. "Either way, McDowell-san, don't you think, now Kozono knows about magic, she will grow suspicious about her sudden infatuation, anyway?"

"No," Eva shook her head. "She isn't that clever to start with, and the curse of foolish love clouds its victims' minds as much as real love does. She'll believe what she wants to believe, and act accordingly. Unless she's outright confronted with the evidence, she'll refuse to believe her romance might be the result of a magical influence."

"Hmmm," Rie pondered. And then asked, "You know, Eva-sama, wasn't there ever a moment when you wanted to use that magic yourself? To make someone fall in love with you?"

"No," Evangeline bluntly said. "That's for lesser spirits. I'd never stoop that low, even if I ever were interested on someone. For one to resort to such desperate measures, one is tacitly admitting one's own lack of worth as a woman and lover. That's why I never bothered with that kind of spellwork."

Had she ever done that, however, she might have learned, while such an artificial attraction briefly overpowers completely the pre-existing ones, it never deletes them, it only adds a new primary attraction to them.

* * *

Kitami Reika finished washing her hands and face after using the toilet, and was reaching over for a paper towel when she was handed it over, instead.

"Here," Kozono Nami said, gentle and delicately, as she smiled at Reika.

The blonde scowled as she angrily wiped her face dry. "What do you want now, Kozono-san? Shouldn't you be on another date with Hiratani-san?"

"I just come from one, and I'll be going on another one as soon as I'm done here," Nami purred, eyes half-closed, hand leaning closer to Reika on the sink. "I was actually hoping you could come with us on that one. As a way to apologize to you over my recent treatment of you. Over neglecting you, when I should have been tending to your own beauty as well as to Seiji-kun's. After all, multitasking is a necessary demand of a president's job."

Reika's mouth twisted into an ugly grimace. "What are you talking about? Is this your idea of a joke? Sorry, but I'm not laughing!" she added, trying to stomp out of the bathroom.

Nami grabbed her by a sleeve. "Why don't you reconsider? I never give second chances, and yet I'm doing that right now, just for you. You should feel very lucky."

"I don't feel lucky, and I don't want to have anything to do with you! Now let me go!"

Nami didn't. "Is it because you wouldn't be the only one? That's okay, you can repay me in the same coin. As long as you don't get close to Hiratani-kun, you can have anyone else as well... as long as you give me what I want."

"You're sick! What kind of two-timing-"

Nami chuckled in quite the deranged way. "You can't keep a good man bored, and I'm sure Hiratani-kun will love watching us together. He'll always be my most prized jewel, but you'll always rank a solid second. Think about it, in that position, you'll be able to lord over Takashiro, when I get her to submit to me. And even over Junko, perhaps. I might just forgive her if she begs and grovels enough," she mused, licking all over her own lips.

"You're as bad as her!" Reika decided, finally pulling her arm free. "Never come near me again!"

Nami, after a brief moment of strange silence, just smiled even further. "I see. So that's how it's going to be. Even better! Convincing others, manipulating others, that's all tried and done ... but forcing someone, that'll be even sweeter, I'm sure. Looking forward to it, then, Reika-chan. Thanks for supplying me with this golden chance."

"You won't do anything to me, ever!" Reika cried. "I'll tell-!"

"The Headmaster? And how will you prove it? It's your word against mine, and my record is far better than yours. Or are you thinking of McDowell-san, perhaps? Because she and I are such good friends now."

Reika pulled back, startled. "No! You're lying! She'd never -!"

Nami laughed. "Why do you think she's lost interest in a naive child like you? For shame, even a brat proved to be more mature than you, Reika-chan. But don't worry, I'm not a lolicon. We're just ... allies of convenience. Which is more than can be said for the two of you now."

Reika bit on her lower lip, almost crying, but not quite. She wouldn't give her that pleasure. "Fine. Good! Do you think I care? No, I don't! Do whatever you want! All of you! Just leave me alone!" she screamed, then running out the bathroom, covering her face with a sleeve as she cried.

One moment later, she collided against a wall, quickly picked herself back up, and kept on running away and bawling, until she was out of sight.

Standing at the doorstep of the restroom, Nami chuckled to herself. _"You're so fucked,"_ she whispered to herself, absently fondling one of her breasts through the blouse. _"My dear, sweet plaything."_

* * *

Over the next few days, Kitami and Evangeline avoided each other as much as they could. The Rose Cross, on the other hand, had gained its final member in the form of one Himeno Fumi, descendant of the Academy's founder and enigmatic high society acquaintance of Kozono, whom Nami had brought in as promised. Evangeline couldn't learn much about the shapely girl with short dark pink hair, other than the obvious fact that she was a fervent admirer of occultism. She was also a woman of few words, and Eva had little genuine interest in learning about her as long as she filled a spot, so their interaction didn't go far beyond the initial greetings.

And so, the full moon night Evangeline had chosen for the ritual had arrived. The members had stripped down in the darkness of the crypt, barely broken by a circle of candles around a stone altar, and then donned black robes with hoods. Evangeline loathed this part of it. Not that she was shy of showing off her body, but she found the robes to be ridiculous looking, most especially the hoods, which she hated. Since meeting Nagi, cloaks and hoods kept reminding her of him.

In the old good days, no special attire would have been needed to perform magic, but even under a full moon, right now, she still lacked the power to carry out a summoning without the paraphernalia of a group session. She took her place at the head of the altar, with the grimoire in her hands, and waited for Kozono's arrival, ignoring Misato and Hiratani's nervous squirming. The boy did his best to hide the tent in his robes, while Saki silently sneered at him, in disgust.

"Eva-sama," Rie said. "By now, I think it's time you told us exactly what are we going to do, don't you think?"

"Our purpose this evening is the summoning of a lesser demon, for which we'll need an animal sacrifice," the vampire replied. "One of those should suffice for obtaining a demon servant for ourselves. Human sacrifices are meant to bring the Devil, but they nearly always backfire, and I make a point out of not hurting innocents. It's beneath my stature. So, before any of you starts getting any ideas..."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Saki shrugged.

"McDowell-san!" Katsuragi gasped, horrified. "How could you ever think that of us?! For that, we'd have to be-"

"I'm here!" Nami happily announced, walking in, having changed into her robes right outside, and holding a small bundle in heavy blankets in her arms. "I deliver the sacrifice as intended, High Priestess."

"Don't call me- never mind, call me that as long as we're here," Eva muttered, beckoning her in. Nami took her place between Hiroko and Hiratani, while placing the bundle on the altar. It was tightly wrapped enough, so none could see what was inside, but it was very obviously breathing.

"I found and sedated it with no problems," Nami informed. "Is it large enough?"

Eva nodded. "It should. Now, whatever happens, don't panic, don't flee, don't scream or make a single wrong step. Remain where you are, no matter what you see or hear. Harden your minds - that goes double for you, Katsuragi - and let me handle the negotiations. Don't speak unless you're asked to do so. Demons are tricksters with silver tongues, and they'll try to fool you into giving them all you have without giving anything in return. Furthermore, there's a chance we might summon a rhyming demon, and other than their lord Etrigan, they only answer to queries posed in verse. Leave this to the experienced one and there should be no problems." She gestured down at the floor and the circle drawing covered in runes on the stone. "The magical circle drawn around the altar will keep the demon contained within unless one of us proves to be an utter moron and happens to break it."

"Got it," Himeno smiled and nodded, as unflappable as ever.

"Oboy oboy, how thrilling, I can hardly wait," Rie gushed, fists under her chin.

Eva chuckled as she undid the blankets with a hand, keeping the grimoire in the other. "Now, let's see what we have he- is this a joke?" She suddenly frowned.

"It is an animal of the correct size and weight, isn't it?" Nami asked innocently.

"It is Kitami's dog!" Eva angrily gestured towards the animal laying on the altar, which whimpered weakly, all four legs stiffened. "Out of all the animals around Mahora, why did you have to pick this one?!"

Nami shrugged. "It's an animal in which a lot of love has been invested. Won't that make it much more valuable as an offer?"

Evangeline bristled. "Why, you -! You planned on this from the start, hadn't you?!"

Nami chuckled. "What is it to you? Are you reluctant to hurt it just because your little friend had taken up to it? You never struck me as the sentimental type!"

"Really, Eva-sama, as long as it works, what does it matter?" Saki groaned. "Let's just get it over with."

"Y-Yeah," Rie said, "we can buy Kitami-san another dog after this! A cuter one! We'll tell her this one went missing, that always happens."

"I know," Eva hesitated. "But still, now that I look at it, I'm not so sure it weighs enough for -"

"What a joke," Nami sneered. "After bringing us all the way here, after boasting so loudly how evil you were, are you having cold feet just because of a child's feelings? In that case, I'd say someone with such a blatant weakness shouldn't be our leader!"

"Bite your tongue, viper!" Eva growled, her eyes becoming golden irises on black, scaring everyone but the impassive Nami. "Or we'll have you as the sacrifice instead!"

"I doubt that, when you can't even kill a simple mutt," Nami shot back. "Unless it's just an excuse to cover the fact you can't perform real magic."

"I'll tell you what's magic, you -!" Eva hissed, while Hiratani further panicked, his boner completely gone now.

"Eva-sama, it's... okay?" Misato said then, with a tiny voice. "If you can't do it, no one will judge you, we'll just -"

"I can do it!" Evangeline yelled, those gentle words of pity pushing her further than any insult could. For Evangeline McDowell despised being pitied far more than she minded being hated and insulted. Morita was right, she'd just buy Kitami another damn dog. Dogs were short lived creatures anyway, what was the problem with truncating this one's existence a bit earlier for the benefit of an immortal? Kitami wouldn't even cry for more than a day. She... she'd make it up to her...

Eva sighed, accepting the ceremonial long dagger as Hiroko handed it to her.

"Remember, not a single word from you unless I say so," the tiny blonde said. "The sacrifice is only the means to call the demon forth through blood, but to keep the entity pleased, something extra will have to be offered."

"And that extra is?" asked Himeno.

"Eva-sama's own soul," Hiroko dryly answered, while Evangeline nodded.

"But, why?!" Rie gasped. "Isn't there something else -?"

"Eva-sama is an immortal, so it's a moot point, she says," Hiroko replied. "And even if she ever died, she feels her soul is already damned anyway, over all her past actions."

"And what if the demon points that out as well?" Nami asked sharply. "What if it doesn't want the deal?"

"Then I will offer my knowledge on creating an instrument of power for it to rule over its own section of hell. It's difficult, but once I have regained my full power, it should be feasible," Evangeline grimly told them. "Failing that, I'll just banish it away and we'll try with another, more reasonable hellspawn."

"Oh dear!" Misato gulped, horrified.

"Why don't we just offer it another soul?" Nami asked, with notable applomb.

Evangeline gave her another evil, disgusted glare. The girl was even more of a snake that she had ever suspected. After the ritual, she'd have to erase her memories and send her away. "Because, Kozono Nami, as I have said, I won't endanger other souls than my own. Because, evil as I am, I refuse to be worse than a demon, and that's why they are down there and I am up here. And if you still call that a weakness, I'll prove you to wrong ... by making you my single exception!"

"Fair enough. It's your soul," Nami said, holding her arms slightly up, with an indifferent shrug.

Eva huffed viciously at her and then began chanting, in a deep, low and ominous voice. _"Intrate per angustam portam quia lata porta et spatiosa."_ Quickly, the symbols on the ground began glowing brightly, nearly making Hiratani and Katsuragi shriek. On the other hand, the eyes of the other youngsters only glinted in expectation. _"Via quae ducit ad perditionem et multi sunt qui intrant per eam."__  
_  
Then, she held the dagger above the paralyzed dog and, after seconds of tense doubt, closed her eyes and brought the blade down, with her full strength. Blood splattered everywhere, even over the youngsters' faces. Misato made a long string of weak whimpers and paled hideously.

Eva kept on chanting. _"Quam angusta porta et arta via quae ducit ad vitam etpauci sunt qui in veniunt eam!"_

And before Misato could faint, she saw it... no, _him_... appearing on the slab, standing over the killed animal, translucent but pretty much unmistakable, even wearing the same uniform he had worn when he placed her in the escape pod three years ago. She could hear the furious ocean roaring within her ears, and nearly feel the furious icy winds hitting all across her body. Everything else stopped existing. Right now, it was as if she was transported to that day, looking at his sadly smiling face once again.

_"Father,"_ she whispered.

"Is that... the demon? I was expecting something more... imposing," Nami quietly confessed.

"It, it looks more like a ghost," Hiratani's voice trembled.

Evangeline took a step back, mildly impressed and confused herself. She was no summoner, and she was at the ebb of her power, so it mildly surprised her to have succeeded in the first try. And yet, there was something else about this apparition that triggered her alarm thoughts. Something was not right there at all. Why that form, unless...

"Father!" Misato cried, taking a bold step forwards.

The skin crawled on the back of Evangeline's neck. How stupid had they been! Blinded by what they wanted, while the demon was well aware of that, choosing to strike at the chain through its weakest link. "Katsuragi!" Evangeline yelled, lunging ahead. "Don't get any closer!"

But it was too late, for they were at opposite sides of the altar, and everyone else was too stunned to stop her for Evangeline. Misato stepped within the circle, reaching up with an arm, her eyes vacant and tearful, to touch the face of the tall man in the heavy winter fatigues, who welcomed her with a faint, nostalgic smile ... which turned into a vicious, huge grin full of fangs as soon as he tightly grabbed her right wrist.

_"Lic Lac La Lac Lilac!"_ Evangeline shouted at the top of her lungs, as she stretched a hand in the direction of her discarded, folded clothes. Her robes shredded around her, leaving her naked as a few tiny bottles flew into her hands. "Let her go, you monster!" she growled, eyes again turning golden and black as she leapt over the altar.

With a cruel, inhuman laugh, the demon easily swatted Misato aside, using her to hit Evangeline before jumping out of the broken containment circle and between the girls. Hiratani was the first to react with a feminine shriek, stumbling and then making a mad dash on all fours for the door, never looking back at his sweetheart. However, a tendril of black extending from the demon's shadow grabbed him by the ankle and slammed him against the wall, leaving the frail boy unconscious.

Hiroko kept moving, stepping between the demon and her paralyzed friends. She threw her hands forward and chanted something that couldn't be heard over the demon's savage laughter, and a small beam of blueish light was shot from her hands, hitting the being across the chest. It barely made him flinch. He slapped her aside with another of the dozens of tentacles he was spawning, from all parts of his body, crotch included, while his clothes fell down and the face of Misato's father melted, leaving a hideous mocking mask of stony gray skin as his features.

Before he could further attack, he was bombarded with several small bottles from behind, which crashed all over him and froze parts of his shoulders, back, and lower skull. But that didn't stop him either. He spun around like an animal to directly engage Evangeline, who stood with crackles of dark energy circling all around her hands. The demon, again, laughed and slammed his hands together, causing a shockwave that sent Evangeline crashing through the solid rock wall, to the corridor outside.

**"Heh heh heh heh..."** it went, slobbering as his gaze traveled all over those present, who were trapped inside with it. The demon blocked the only access to the exit (and the newly created extra exit, for that matter.) While Hiroko had stood back up in defiance, he had grown so much over the last few moments, it dwarfed them all in mass as well as in power.

Another moment later, Evangeline tackled him from behind, returning to the crypt like a rocket. But the demon, after being pushed down by her, wrestled with her all over the floor, trying to choke her. She kicked him in the crotch, proving his masculinity when the kick made clear she had just hit and twisted what very clearly was an exposed penis of frightening proportions. Having pushed him off herself, she made a large lance of ice appear between her hands and pushed it through his chest, but he only took a hold of it and snapped it, then pulling what was stuck into him, the wide wound closing just as quickly. The demon roared in a deafening tone and sent his tentacles all over the room, aiming for the young women, catching them all in a tight grasp, most especially around their breasts and crotches, and trying to rip their robes off.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Eva hissed. _"Sagitta Magica!"_ she cried, sending ice projectiles everywhere, to sever and chop the tentacles before they could rape their victims. She couldn't use Dark Magic, which was the demons' favorite element; it would only add fuel to the creature's inner fire. So she had to rely on her elemental ice spells, which reduced greatly her already limited attack abilities. As if reading her mind, the demon went on to taunt her.

**"You are not what you used to be, Master of Puppets,"** he said, with a booming dark voice. **"Maybe back then you would have stopped me, but as you are now, you are naught but a distraction. Still, step aside, and I'll let you go in gratitude for bringing me to this delightful place."**

She spat on his face. "Delight yourself with this!"

He licked the drool running down his face and into his mouth, and chuckled perversely. **"What a woman,**" he mused, before slamming all of his remaining tentacles on her, using them to pummel her faster than she could react, never giving her the time to cast or even speak. The old rule about how to best a caster by just being physically superior and overwhelming from the start might have been invented by humans, but demons had been good learners. He soon had her back against the wall, a tendril sneaking in between her legs...

And then he experienced a sharp pain on his back, and he spun around with another slap, pushing Hiroko back, right after the redhead had sunk the ceremonial dagger into him. Not even bothering to pull it out, he advanced towards Takashiro, keeping Evangeline wrapped in his tendrils, one of them covering her mouth. She kept on gnawing, trying to bit through it, but the flesh would just regrow immediately.

The demon placed a clawed hand on top of Takashiro's head, then slammed his rancid mouth on hers, and pushed his raspy, sharp tongue in. The tentacles tightened around Eva's neck until a loud snapping sound was heard, and then the blonde was tossed away like a ragdoll, to the screams of terror of all the girls save for Hiroko, who just kept on being kissed forcefully... and Nami, who witnessed it all with rapt, morbidly smiling satisfaction.

Now with his attention fully on Hiroko, the demon used his extra members to remove what remained of her robes and caress her supple, firm and sweaty bare flesh. And then, the tip of a tentacle became a huge penis, and it penetrated Hiroko's vagina. Another tentacle did the same, but going into Hiroko's rectum instead. A third one sneaked in between her breasts. All three began beating in following a steady, strong rhythm, violating her over the sounds of her muffled screams into the monster's mouth.

It went on and on for several minutes, as the beast kept on blocking the exits, forcing the girls to watch. Misato broke down in hysteric wailing, covering her face with her hands as she fell on her knees, retreating into a corner and shaking wildly. The others huddled amongst themselves, crying for mutual support. But Nami just remained standing, watching in mesmerized fascination, and smiling to herself. When, at the end of it all, the tentacles stiffened and shot thick, white liquids that overflowed sloppily out of a now catatonic Hiroko, Nami was almost disappointed it had ended so quickly.

And then, an axe of ice beheaded the demon from behind, in a single mighty swing.

The head rolled towards Nami's feet as the other girls' screams went even higher in pitch. A recovered Eva stood behind the slumping dark body as it dropped the twitching Takashiro on the floor, another shower of dark blood raining from the severed neck and onto them all.

"Well," Nami commented, as calmly as anyone can be. "Now I have no doubts you indeed are a powerful sorceress. My congratulations, McDowell-sama."

"Shut up, you, you, you -" Evangeline's voice was trembling and agitated as well, as she crouched down next to Hiroko, to gently pick up the girl's fallen, spasming body in her arms, easily lifting her despite the difference in sizes. "What have I done. What have I done? What have I done?!"

"Why, you've made a miracle, McDowell-sama," Nami reverently said as she bent down to pick up the demon's head and hold it her hands, smiling broadly as she stood again. "After this, we've proved we can do anything. Anything! Just think, with just a little more practice -"

The head she still was holding laughed, making her drop it. It rolled back towards the body, whose hands reached out to grab it and reattach it to its neck. Saki, Rie, Misato and Fumi began all screaming once again. Nami looked nonplussed. **"Impressive, even in your current state, Master of Puppets,"** he said, licking his hard lips all over. **"Perhaps I am more evenly matched than I thought. With that in mind, I shall retreat for now. But I promise, I shall come back for the rest of you!**" he promised before vanishing in a massive cloud of dark gas with the stench of sulphur.

Eva seethed, then spat at the ground where he had stood. "Better have tried, fiend."

After a few moments of waiting fearfully for a return, Rie got back up and raced towards Evangeline. "Hiro-chan! Is she, is she -?"

"This is my fault. So I will heal her to the best of my abilities," Evangeline gloomily promised, as Rie examined Hiroko's pale, livid and lifeless face, her eyes trying to roll back into her skull. "In the meanwhile, go back home, all of you. This association is officially disbanded." She said nothing else, before leaving through the door, with the immobile Hiroko cradled in her arms.

"Um," Saki gulped, holding a few shreds of black cloth, "you haven't gotten dressed...? Eva-sama? Oh. Ah, well, crap."

"This, this, that, it was all, so horrible, and my fault, and, and!" Misato frantically hugged herself. "Oh God, I never should have done this, nothing of it, and now, now, I never want to, ever again!"

"A human sacrifice," Nami mused calmly.

"I beg your pardon?!" Misato yelled.

"You heard him. He'll come back for us," Nami placidly said, "And Eva-sama has forsaken us. She doesn't need us to defend herself, after all. So we will have to fend for ourselves. By getting ourselves a stronger servant and defender. The Devil himself." She smiled back at them. "We need to stop thinking small. We're going to stage a human sacrifice!"

Misato began screaming again.

* * *

The next day, after classes, Kitami looked again for Poppy-chan, only to fail to find him, just like the afternoon before, and that very same morning.

"It seems he's really gone," she sadly said to herself, perhaps still growing used to have no one next to her to talk to anymore. "I only hope he was adopted by good people."

"Hey, Nee-chan," a male voice called out.

"Huh?" she turned back, and saw three young men standing together. The one addressing her was tall and thin, with a goatee, and wore the jacket of his school uniform open. The other two were somewhat shorter, but rather bulkier and heavier in physique. "Oh, good afternoon, may I help you?"

"Yeah, well," the goatee boy said. "You're the girl who takes care of that dog with the spots, aren't you? Yesterday, one of our pals accidentally hit him with his bike, so now he's taking care of him. He thought you might want to see him."

"What?!" Reika gasped aloud. "Oh, no, Poppy-chan! Take me with him, please!"

He nodded. "Sure thing. Come on, they're over there."

* * *

"No! No, absolutely not!" Katsuragi still protested, as she, Nami, Hiratani, Rie, Saki and Fumi stood together in the room that had served as the base for Rose Cross before the club's first cancellation. "I won't do it, no matter what! I don't know, if you're really feeling threatened, let's just talk with the teachers!"

"So they'll think us crazy? I don't think so," Nami said. "We're all in this together now, whether you like it or not. Deal with it!"

"But, invoking another demon, no, a devil, after what has happened... and without Eva-sama and Hiroko, now!" Rie gulped. "If that thing went that far, who knows what could result from dealing with a more powerful one?"

"There are risks in any high profile enterprise, right?" Nami asked. "Besides, by now, the risks involved with sitting around doing nothing are much higher. Eva-sama failed because she didn't have a good bargaining chip, and because she and Takashiro let their guard down, and because of someone else's stupidity."

Misato sank guiltily. "You're right, it's all my fault."

"It is," Nami confirmed. "And so, you can't walk away on us now."

"But-!" Katsuragi said.

"You have a sister-in-law and a baby nephew living in this city, don't you?" Nami mused aloud. "It'd be a terrible thing if something happened to them."

"Keima-kun! You wouldn't dare!" Misato gasped.

"Who me? No, I'm talking about what the demon might do if he ran into them while looking for you. I'd never suggest that I'd use my many and vast resources to have my followers hunt your family down and brutally hurt and dispose of them, in a way that never could be traced to us, should you fail to comply with my plans," Nami conversationally said.

Misato, going another shade of pale, let out a high pitched whine before nodding in silent defeat.

"What a good girl," Nami approved with a nod. "And of course, you, my dear widdle baby stud, will always be at your Nami-chan's side no matter what, won't you?" she cooed, tickling Hiratani's chin.

"O-Of course I will, Nami-chan, but-!" the boy gulped hard as well.

She kissed him on a cheek. "That's why I love you so much! Well, that and the sex. How about you, Morita-san, Shindou-san?"

"What are we going to use to bargain with, that would be better than what Eva-sama was going to offer?" Saki asked back.

"Leave that to me. It'll be big, no, bigger than big. An offer no demon or devil could ever refuse. I have been reading this grimoire, and Takashiro's annotations, and found right the thing to use as a chip," she lectured, holding the book Eva and Hiroko had left behind. "Oh, I knew those French classes would come in very handy someday!"

"I'm in," Saki said. "As long as we get a bigger slice of the pie now Eva and Hiroko are out."

"Ahhhhh," Rie swallowed. "By the way, shouldn't we try to find them, and -"

"Rie-chan is in as well," Saki added, nodding.

"I guess I am, but all the same, what I'm trying to say is, they might know what to do! I don't want to get raped! I'm still a virgin!"

"Oh, you are?" Nami raised an eyebrow in interest. It was good to know, even if they failed to capture Kitami, they still had another bitch to play her role.

Fumi spoke at last. "At the very least, we're going to use someone who deserves it, aren't we?"

"Oh, we are," Nami nodded, before her cellphone rang. "Excuse me. Hello? Oh, that's excellent. I'll be there right now. Don't do anything until I'm there." She pocketed the phone again. "Well, isn't that just lovely. Our replacement members have just secured the victim. Seiji-kun and I are going to meet them, and in the meanwhile, you four prepare the crypt for the second ceremony. We have to do it tonight, before Eva-sama tries to stop us, and before the demon reappears."

"This very night? Oh my," Misato trembled, looking about to faint. Fumi placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed reassuringly.

"Don't waste any time. We'll rejoin you before midnight," Nami instructed, leading Hiratani out, the boy's head and shoulders hanging miserably. "And not even a single word of this to anyone, or else."

When Rie was sure they were out of listening range, she mused, "She's crazy. Crazy as hell."

Saki nodded and shrugged. "But she's right, we can't back down now, can we? The way I see it, as long as we're at it, we might as well try and obtain the benefits we were after in the first place."

"Rit-chan was so right," Misato bitterly mumbled. "I will never again get involved in weird shit after this."

* * *

Takashiro Hiroko woke up with the worst headache she had ever felt, as well as terrible pains all over her body. It hadn't been the first time she had awakened during the last few hours, but none of those brief waking spells had lasted past her first desperate screams and wild thrashings on the bed, before sleep had mercifully claimed her once more.

Now, for the first time since her ordeal, she felt calmed enough as to remain silent as she opened her eyes, looking at a perfectly white ceiling. She crossed her hands, still slightly trembling, over her lower belly and waited for the girl who sat beside her bed to speak.

"I don't want to say this," Evangeline quietly said, her small fists on her knees. "But I need to. I don't think hearing it will do you any good, and it won't solve anything. It's pointless, a blow to your dignity and mine, and yet, I have to say it, and you need to hear it, I suppose. I am sorry."

"Uh huh," Hiroko said, still not looking at her. Only at the white ceiling.

"I'm not used to saying that, either," Evangeline confessed. "Not only am I very rarely wrong, but this has been the worst mistake of my life, so I would appreciate it if you acknowledged how much this takes from me... except, of course, I know I have no right to have your acknowledgment of anything. I have wronged you as I have wronged no other human being."

"Good," Hiroko flatly said. "That means Saki and Rie didn't suffer through this."

Evangeline shook her head. "They're fine. And this won't repeat itself. I've disbanded the club, and I'll make sure to seal the chamber as soon as I can."

"That would be nice," Hiroko said, in the same very quiet and emotionless tone. "Thank you. For saving them."

"It was nothing," Eva huffed, looking aside. She was as unused to being thanked as she was to apologizing.

"I'd have done it anyway," Hiroko said. "I'd have translated the requirements for the ceremony and carried it over all the same, even if we hadn't ever crossed paths. If anything, I'm madder at myself than I am at you."

"Okay," Evangeline nodded, accepting the statement rather quickly. She looked again at Hiroko's sweaty, hauntingly pale face, and told her, "You are in my resort, within my cabin, where I have been spending the last few days trying to heal your body back as much as I can. I've never been one for healing, but you should be able to walk again in a few-"

"Days?" Hiroko asked. "How many-?"

"You've been here over a week, in terms of the resort, but in this place, time passes differently than it does in the outside world. One day here equals a hour of objective time. For your friends, less than a single day has passed."

"That's fascinating," Hiroko monotoned. "It's a shame I'm here under circumstances which make it hard to appreciate it."

"After you have healed, I'll offer you a choice," Eva told her. "You can keep your memories of the world of magic, with all that entails, or I can erase them all, including the trauma of last night. I'd personally advise you to-"

"I'll keep them, thanks," Hiroko said.

"Are you sure?" Evangeline asked.

Hiroko nodded sedately. "Because I know, if I forget any of this, I'll try to do it, all over again. I'll keep on pushing against forces beyond my control and understanding, until I get someone else killed... or worse. My lesson may have been bitter, but if I forget it, it'll have been for nothing."

"You are not without some wisdom," Evangeline admitted. "Now rest. I won't leave your side until you can walk."

"No. I'll be fine here. But, Saki and Rie... you don't think Kozono will let it go at that, after this, do you?"

Eva sneered. "Don't say that, child. How stupid do you believe her? Even her pride must have its limits. Right after witnessing your ordeal, do you really think any of them would feel compelled to make another attempt?"

At last, Hiroko turned and blandly looked into her green eyes.

Evangeline rose from the chair. "Okay, fine, that's a good point."

* * *

"You liars!" Kitami cried after being roughly tossed to the floor of old Kozono Industries warehouse by the three punks who had brought her there. Two more gang members who had been watching over the place had joined them, surrounding Reika from all angles, and smiling down at her, perversely. "You tricked me, Poppy-chan's not here!"

"Oh, but he is, Reika-chan," a melodic voice said, shocking her, as she saw Nami walking in with a large bundle in her arms, her steps shadowed by Hiratani's. "He's right here, and he's just dying to see you again! Take a look," she laughed, tossing the bundle at Kitami's feet.

The blonde shrieked in terror, pain and disgust as soon as the cloth unfolded, revealing the bloody, twisted carcass inside. "Poppy-chan! Oh, Poppy-chan, no, no no no! Why did you do this?!" she looked up with tear-stricken eyes at Nami. "What did **he** ever do to you?!"

"But Reika-chan, I didn't kill your precious pup, your good friend Evangeline did," Nami taunted her. "Ask her next time you meet... if you ever do, that is."

"Don't say that! She'd never do such a thing!" Reika wailed. "And why are you taking me hostage?! Your family has a lot more money than mine ever will!"

"Money? Even now, you think this might be about money?" Nami broke into laughter. "Cute, stupid child!" And she pressed a foot down on the sitting Reika's crotch, hard enough to make her yelp. "So cute, too, too cute for words. So much so that I still want you. I've given you two chances, and twice you've rejected Seiji-kun and me. Be ours, and I'll make you powerful, and will grant you revenge against our enemies, including McDowell-sama. Reject me, and I'll leave you to the questionable mercy of these questionable men."

Reika spat on her face and uttered a word for the first time ever. _**"Whore!"**_

Nami, with an eerie calm about her, wiped the spot of saliva from her face with a hand, licked Kitami's drool from her fingers, and smirked further down at the helpless girl. "All right, so you'll never enjoy this body, or that of this Adonis," she remarked, running a hand down Hiratani's scrawny chest. The other boys shared eyerolls and groans. "But your gorgeous physique won't go to waste, regardless. First these gentlemen will enjoy what fell from my table, and then you'll become the devil's own meal. Boys," she addressed the posse. "Have your fun with her as we prepare the ceremony, and then join us at the spot. Do whatever you want, but don't even touch her cunt. Or else you'll pay!" she finished with a loud growl, before humming sweetly as she grabbed Hiratani by his arm and pulled him out beside her. "Come on, my sweet, tonight we'll have our black wedding! Hee hee heee!"

"Oh, um, if you say so, Nami-chan," the boy gulped, taking a final, pitiful look at the teary Reika before closing his eyes and marching ahead with his lover.

"What a goddamn hypocrite," one of the young men spat at the floor. "Acting all sorry, but I don't see him protesting!"

"What's the use of fightin' a crazy babe who pays so well?" another thug asked, rubbing his hands as he looked up and down Reika's body. "First dibs on the ass!"

"Mouth!" another one quickly added.

"Titjob!" a third delinquent made an obscene slobbering sound.

"P-Please, no!" Kitami cried. "Don't do that! No, no, no! I don't want to, someone please help, no!"

But they already were grabbing her from all sides and ripping her clothes like rabid dogs converging on their prey.

They didn't hear the sound of tiny steps just outside the warehouse, running away in terror. Which was fortunate for the two small individuals who had just escaped the area after getting a glimpse of what transpired inside...

* * *

They stormed into the Kiryuin Headquarters, better known to myopic adults as the kindergarten playhouse, terrified out of their minds, and in desperate need of the main guiding force in their young lives.

"Satsuki-sama!" one of the two boys cried, as the other one sobbed in shock, rubbing his eyes with his shirt. "That girl Eva-sama told us to keep an eye on, some bad sempai took her away! We spied on them, they left a door half-open, after a limo left where they are, and we peeked in then and, and, and...!"

Kiryuin Satsuki lifted her gaze from the coloring book on her table, where she had been attaching word balloons with Nietzsche quotes to the drawings of Tom and Jerry. "Slow down. What has happened to Kitami-san?"

* * *

Unfortunately, even at their top speed, most kindergarteners aren't exactly known for their velocity or stamina, so a lot of things had happened before those two reached their fearless leader.

"Man, just look at those tits!" one of the older boys said after they placed the squirming, crying Reika on the floor of the warehouse. "As good as an adult's! No, bigger than most grown women's!"

"Actually, if you'd ever been in America, you'd know that's not-" another thug began.

"Shut the fuck up or else!" the gangleader growled while pulling his pants down.

"Don't get mad, man, I'm just saying, that's all," the American lover said as he also took his pants off, revealing some equipment that was not too long or thick, but was rather stiff regardless.

"Turn around, you," another creep forced Reika to lie on her back, then pulled her ass up so it jutted towards them. He placed himself behind her, stroked his cock a couple of times, and then pushed against her back entrance, carefully worming it in as Reika cried desperately. "Ohhhh, yesssss, sooooo tiiiiiight ..." He dragged the words out while the leader grunted and grabbed Reika by the hair, then pushed his own member into her open mouth.

"Fuck, from this angle I can't tittyfuck her," complained the guy who had called dibs on paizuri. "You're in my way, man!"

"Try to push me aside and I'm cuttin' you, man, I warn you!" growled the leader as his hands forced Reika's head back and forth on his genitalia. "I don't know, she's still got two hands, doesn't she? Make she jerk you off!"

"Bitch!" another youngster huffed, approaching Reika from the other side and placing her hand on his dick. "Stroke it until I cum, or else I cut you!"

"Yeah, well. do the same for me too!" Paizuri Guy followed suit with Kitami's other hand. When she proved unresponsive, he just made her to roughly rub up and down the erection, his hand firmly on hers. "Are you dumb or what, broad? Start workin' them or we carve you like a turkey!"

Reika whimpered around the member of the man she was fellating before using her hands to massage the two male units offered to her, while being banged from behind and from the mouth. That was only the start, though.

After too long, after being anally and orally taken by all men, one after another, she had thought it had ended at last. She rested on a side, spent and covered by dried sperm after two of the thugs had just finished jerking off on her body, then sitting back down with twin sighs of satisfaction. She closed her eyes and waited for the release of a knife through her throat, or a gunshot through her head, anything to escape the disgust, the pain, the complete hopelessness.

Instead, she was forcefully flipped around once more.

"Hey, fella, what are you doin'?" one of the sitting boys asked the one who was placing himself between Reika's legs, spreading them wide. "Nami-sama said-"

"Fuck that bitch, I'm not gonna miss on this virgin pussy. It's calling to me, bro. Who cares about her magic mumbo-jumbo anyway? Like this is gonna make any difference!" he laughed crassly, pushing ahead and penetrating Reika in the first try.

She cried, even higher and louder than before, and then he covered her mouth with his as he raped her violently. The pain was unbearable, and she felt like the life itself was flowing out of her along her blood. She never was very physically active, and her hymen had remained intact until that evening.

And now it was gone.

Kitami Reika, as she had been before, had just died, along her virginity. When they finally finished with her and carried her over in secrecy to Library Island, bypassing the security measures that had taken several staff and budget blows after the cataclysm, they were only carrying the nearly empty vessel of the young woman she had been. She breathed, and her heart would beat, but her shattered mind was not that of the Reika Evangeline once knew. It was a nearly blank slate waiting for a rebirth.

The rebirth of something dark and fearsome, rising from the ashes of her fractured psyche, only needing a black spark to ignite it.

* * *

Evangeline left her resort, leaving the recovering Hiroko inside, once she was sure Takashiro could be on her own until her full physical recovery. Eva doubted there'd ever be a full psychological one, despite the girl's brave facade. But dwelling on that was pointless. Right now, as she went up the stairs as fast as she would allow herself to preserve her own sense of dignity and majesty, she knew she had other, far more priorities to attend do, such as-

Her cellphone rang. Already cursing under her breath, the vampire pulled it out. "Hello? This better be important."

"Ah, finally," Kiryuin's childishly stiff and pompous voice told her. "I'd been trying to contact you for the last hour, but it seems you were out of -"

"Yes, I was. What do you want?" Evangeline curtly asked.

"Your friend, Kitami-san. Right after classes, she was taken away by several gang members, apparently under the Council President's employ. They brought her to one of Kozono's family's warehouses."

"She's not my- Wait, what did they-?!"

"My men," Satsuki said as in the background, Nonon could be heard chiding two weeping little boys, "could see little, but apparently Kozono's men were treating her in an abusive fashion." A beat. "A sexually abusive fashion."

"You really, really, really should tell the Headmaster about how you learned on such matters from your-" Evangeline told her, as she all but flew up the final steps of the stairs, aloof majesty be damned as she zoomed for the cabin's front door.

"I don't tell you how to live your life, don't tell me how to live mine," Satsuki stoically said, once again wondering how Mc Dowell could have deduced her domestic situation shortly after first meeting her. "Shall I join you? My sword is ready to punish wrongdoing!"

"Lower your stick already," Evangeline warned as she flew through the woods, surrounded by black bats, under the full moon's light. "And if you couldn't contact me, you should have called the old man instead!"

Satsuki lowered the wooden stick in her right hand, now also wondering how Mc Dowell could always deduce those kind of things as well. "... Mother has promised she'll get me a real sword for my birthday, you know. And you're also aware I don't trust the corrupt, inefficient establishment! For that is-"

"We'll talk later, child," Eva said as she stopped before the warehouse closest to the school gates, after covering most of campus in a matter of mere minutes. She cut the communication, growled fiercely, and then kicked the front door down.

There were two young men inside, playing cards on a small folding table as they smoked, and they spun towards her in surprise. "What the fuck-?!" one of them said before being kicked in the face, flying several feet back and falling unconscious as soon as he hit a wall. The other boy was easily grabbed and slammed down against the floor, howling in vicious pain as Evangeline literally walked over him, making sure to stomp on his face.

With a furious growl, she noticed the small stains of blood on the floor, and saw the discarded panties and ripped bra tossed aside, her eyes again showing no color other than gold on twin lagoons of ebony darkness. "The girl," she hissed, her voice an inhuman rattle. _**"Where is she?!"**_

"Oh my God, my fuckin' back is broken! I can't get up, you've-!" the fallen youngster cried, squirming in place, in vain, before being grabbed by the collar and easily lifted until he was eye-to-eye with Evangeline.

_**"Where is she?!"**_ she screamed on his face. "Speak, worm, or I'll rip your worthless tongue out, and then your testicles!"

He whimpered, the new position causing him even more pain. "K-Kuh-Kozono-sama, the boys, took 'er to some occult club meetin', I don't know anythin' else, I'm just a guard, I mean, not official guard, but-!"

She headbutted him into unconsciousness with another aggressive snort, threw him aside like an used ragdoll, and then took up into the air, towards Library Island, creating a cape of bats around her shoulders as she flew, and her finger nails became red, sharp talons.

Kozono would do well to enjoy her bloodshedding while she could, because soon her own blood would be spilled as well.

She found the legit guardians and caretakers of the Library soundly asleep around the reception area, which confirmed her worst suspicions. Kozono was a surprisingly fast and adept learner, after all, even if her common sense didn't match her aptitude. Evangeline quickly made her way towards the maze of passageways that would lead her to the secret chamber, easily dodging the traps.

It soon became obvious to her that some of the traps she was facing now had not been there the first times she had gone with the Rose Cross, which meant Kozono had either found and readied old traps that had not been functional for a long time, or she had added new ones. Probably with Morita's help, and to better protect themselves during the ceremony, either way. That mattered little now. Evangeline just crushed her way through them as if they were made of paper; it didn't escape her attention there was a powerful magical pulse emanating from the island's depths, further empowering her above her normal full moon abilities. It was a far cry from the days when she had been at her best, but it was still a noticeable spike regardless.

For once, she couldn't feel all too happy over gaining more power. But she was strong enough now as to cast the age charm, so she did it, her body taking on the glamour of an adult woman. All the better to intimidate them as soon as she faced them.

And then, she'd make them pay.

* * *

Reika was motionless, save for small, spastic tremors, as she lied on her back on the cold slab of stone that passed for an altar, surrounded by the light of candles and the hooded, robed presences of several people chanting in a nonstop stream of hushed garbled tones. She was naked and beaten, and all life seemed to have abandoned her haunted eyes.

"I, I can't do it," Katsuragi said at some point, breaking from the chanting. "This is insane, I don't want to-"

Frowning sternly at her, Kozono, who stood at the head of the coven, briefly gestured with the sharp blade of the ceremonial dagger towards her. "Interrupt the ritual again," she warned, "and you'll get a second scar around your belly. A far worse one."

It didn't look like anyone was going to defend Misato and take her side, either, so she just nodded and once more added her voice to the unholy choir.

_"Virginal sacrifical lamb, may you be the pillar of our strength,"_ Nami spoke then. _"Pure sacrifical lamb, your blood holds the key to darkness. Jesus Jesus Nester Jesus."_

_"Jesus Jesus Nester Jesus,"_ the other girls and boys repeated, as the runes on the floor projected a faint and ominous light, and Nami held the dagger with the cross-shaped handle up. The President voiced an unsteady cackle as she brought the blade down, and Misato closed her eyes tightly, a full shudder running through her body.

"It is done!" went the cackle as Reika cried in shrill agony, and her blood splattered everywhere. "The Gate of Orkus shall open! Now no one can... ah?" her voice fell down as the lights from the floor grew faint and then died down altogether.

One of the boys brought as replacement members blinked. "Hey, what gives? It was working... wasn't it?" he gulped nervously.

"I, I have no idea, it should have worked, we followed the instructions to the letter, and it worked when we used the dog!" Rie stammered.

Nami's darkly beautiful face twitched in fury. "No! Damn it, not now, when I was so close! The Gate will open yet! You!" she barked at the delinquents. "You did it, didn't you! After I warned you!"

"H-Hey, cool down, Boss!" another delinquent gulped. "It ain't like that, maybe you're just-"

Nami hissed in sudden deranged mania. "It's not too late yet! I won't fail! More blood, I only need more blood, to make up for this!" Then she madly eyed the terrified Rie, and smirked insanely. "The blood of another virgin!"

Saki gave a step closer. "Whoa, wait, don't-!"

Too late. With an unhinged laugh, Nami thrusted the blade ahead, before anyone could stop her or Rie could move aside. The sharp steel went into the shorter girl's chest, her blood quickly flowing down to the runes as soon as Nami pulled the blade back. Misato began shrieking hysterically, clawing at her own face.

Nami did not care. The runes were glowing again, while Rie fell to her knees taking a hand to her open chest, gasping for air in despair. The runes shone, that was what mattered, and so Nami gave another step ahead, casually pushing Saki aside with augmented strength that made her feel so alive, so grandiose, as the weapon in her hand twirled eagerly, ready to consummate the murder for good. "And so it happens, that the hand of destiny itself chooses me, as the goddess of a new era, and this marks the start of-!" she laughed as she brought the dagger down again -

\- only to be kicked in the chest and away from Rie as Evangeline arrived, leaping over the boys' heads in a truly Dynamic Entry. Nami stumbled back and fell sitting against a wall, but her augmented physical abilities prevented her from falling unconscious, so she could stare bloody murder at the newcomer and hiss at her. "Who are you, and how do you dare-!"

"Not now, bitch," the tall blonde sneered venomously, stomping past the others and sending them flying back just by moving her hands around, finding no opposition until she reached the lifeless figure on the slab. "Kitami," she said, in a low, dry, cracked tone. "Oh, Kitami. You... you... silly dumb child, you didn't deserve this," she mumbled, gently closing the girl's eyelids with her fingers. Then her stare became figurative fire as she looked at all the gathered there, who stepped back except for the seething Nami, and Rie, who rattled into the throes of agony on the floor, choking into her own blood, weakly reaching for Evangeline's feet.

"Plll- plsss... hakk-hakk-llppp!"

"Help, you say?" Evangeline growled. "Like the help you gave Kitami while she was being killed? I should repay you in the same coin, fool! Just so you feel the true price of black magic, so you learn of how evil pays its own kind."

Morita cried, tears running down her face, as she looked pleadingly at Eva. The vampire sneered again, casually and single-handedly intercepting Nami's attempt to stab her in the back, in the process twisting Nami's right wrist cruelly and shattering it to many pieces. Evangeline smirked down at Rie as Nami yelled in complete pain, looking over at Hiratani for a help that never came.

"However," Evangeline softly said, "I know of a worse punishment for you. Too many have paid because of my hubris, perhaps, but this will be the payment for your arrogance." Roughly lifting the dying girl up, she continued speaking in the same soft, deadly tone. "Kitami and Takashiro would have wanted me to spare your pathetic existence. So I'll honor their wishes. But you'll suffer a far worse fate awaiting man than death," she promised, as her mouth flashed huge, long fangs. Misato whimpered again and fainted. Saki babbled something that never achieved any semblance of coherence.

Evangeline's teeth sank into Rie's neck. The vampire's eyes became bloodshot orbs as she frantically fed, with a thirst tamed and forgotten long ago. No one else moved, no one else said anything, for they couldn't, not even Nami, who only knelt on the floor, nursing her useless hand to her chest.

And so it went until Evangeline drew her gore-caked face back, licking all over her teeth and lips, avidly. "Welcome back, Morita Rie," she crooned in a sinister tone. "Welcome to forever."

That was when, without any warning, the lights on the floor achieved a blinding intensity, and the altar was battered by an invisible force and toppled, Reika's body rolling across the floor. Said floor cracked open, and from where the altar had been, to everyone's shock including Eva's, a column of white light erupted until it hit the ceiling. Nami, a moment later, forgot her pain and broke into short, quiet giggles, as she she looked in fascination at the small figure appearing within the light. "You... You are here... I have done it..."

"Oh, hell," Evangeline spat, still holding the barely breathing Rie against herself.

"Not quite how the name's pronounced, Mistress of Puppets," a voice said from the light, as a small foot stepped out of it, wrapped into the black leather of a tall boot full of golden buckles. A short, compact body in a tight red minidress that showed a lot of deeply bronzed skin followed that leg, and then an impishly smirking face marked by a small star on each cheek and one on the middle of the newcomer's forehead. A head topped by a mane of wild silvery white hair, pulled into a rather long ponytail. "But it's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. I am Hild, Mother Queen of all Demons, and I came for the soul offered in sacrifice to me. Sadly, it seems you have taken it before I could," the short girl purred, to everyone's continued confusion. With a glance at Reika's prone and broken form, she continued, "So I'll take the second best prize, then!"

"That... is the devil?" Fumi said dubiously, blinking through the daze of being flung aside. "That just can't be right."

The being who had just appeared looked towards her, attracted by her voice, and her smile grew further. "Well, well, what do we have here? A Valkyrie. I guess it was to be expected; after all, nearly three hundred years have passed already."

Fumi's confusion grew as well. "W-What are you -?"

"There'll be time for that later," the dark skinned girl decided, carelessly walking towards where Reika's body remained. "First, I want to check on my offering. At least she isn't missing the head. I hate it when they do that."

_"Lic Lac La Lac Lilac,"_ Evangeline whispered, gathering magic between her hands.

Hild looked back at her, over her shoulder. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she warned. "I'm not at all like the reject you faced last night..."

"Step away from her!" Eva roared, unleashing a barrage of ice arrows at the summoned creature. Said creature only sighed and easily flipped back, dodging all the arrows, much to Evangeline's surprise, causing the projectiles to freeze a whole wall instead.

Hild giggled from a corner of her mouth and snapped her fingers. "Oh my, what a troublesome child you are. Well, Mistress of Puppets, I imagine it's fair if I get a puppet to entertain you as Mommy attends to her business here. Valkyrie, please. I know it's a bit early for you to dance yet, but... do it regardless."

"What..." Fumi babbled, right before her body jerked, stiffening, and her eyes glowed with a golden light as her hands clawed at the air. A tiny spot on the left corner of her forehead pulsed for a moment in the same light, bulging slightly under the curly pink bangs of her hair. She let out a fierce, insane growl as a blinding light appeared between her fingers, quickly taking the solid shape of a long scythe. With another feral growl, she dashed, rapidly closing the short distance separating her from Eva, as she swung the bladed weapon, trying to slice the vampire's head cleanly off her neck.

"Now, now, where were we," Hild whimsically sing-sang, kneeling down next to Reika and placing her small hands on the girl's still warm cheeks.

Dropping the catatonic Rie with no ceremony and little care, Evangeline seethed as she took hold of the scythe's handle, right above Fumi's hands, and pushed back against the girl's surprisingly strong resistance. "This won't even delay me, devil," she warned, applying pressure until the handle cracked and snapped, and then punched Fumi across the jaw, sending her stumbling back. When Nami, back to swooning even as she kept on nursing her broken hand, whistled in unbalanced awe, Evangeline allowed herself a moment to spin around and punch her unconscious, blowing two teeth out of her mouth, which only made the remaining cultists huddle together even tighter in fear of their lives. "Huh. Why am I being so nice tonight?" Eva wondered aloud. She smirked cruelly at Hild's back. "Ah, I'm saving the worst for the worst," she said, advancing towards Hild and the body she was holding. "I don't care who are you, I didn't summon you here, and I don't want you to be here! Crawl back the way you came from, or else face-!"

Again, Hild looked back at her over her shoulder. "Crawl?"

A second later, Evangeline was slammed up against the ceiling, sending cracks all through it.

"I never crawl. Queens - true queens, unlike people who call themselves that out of a deep misunderstanding of what the word means - never do that, my dear," Hild smiled as she lowered her right hand from the bashing position it had been in a second ago, still holding Reika with the left one. As Eva plummeted to the floor, Hild added, "Be thankful I decided to show up in this form, and held myself back so much, or else everyone in this academy but you would have been instantly vaporized. Your power is great only by the standards of this realm, but in my domains, you'd be nothing! Know your place, little vampire!"

Evangeline propped herself back up, fangs showing up in full bared, furious form. _"Come, everlasting darkness..."_

"You don't want to do that," Hild warned. "Not only will it not work on me, but you'll kill everyone else in these closed quarters."

_"Eternal Glacier!"_ Evangeline shouted, and a thick wave of ice quickly travelled across the floor, reaching Hild's feet and legs and instantly encasing them into a frozen cast, spikes protruding everywhere.

"Of course, I can see why you wouldn't care about these idiots' lives, after all they've done," Hild calmly mused aloud. "And no doubt, you've lost all hopes for this girl's revival all the same. Still, it's a very foolish thing to do. You only are humiliating yourself."

_"To all living things, an equal death..."_ Eva chanted, as an overwhelming chill filled the whole chamber.

"I honestly don't know if I should congratulate you over showing this much precision with such a spell, or pity you over not having the juice for more than this yet," Hild hummed. "Probably both?"

_"Cosmic Catastroph-!"_ Evangeline roared as she pushed her hands forward.

"Nooope," Hild pushed ahead a single hand of her own, instantly cancelling the spell and sending back the blast of the magical pulse at Eva, who flew back and through another wall, coincidentally (or not) opening a second hole right beside the one she had been tossed through the prior night. Hild gently set Reika down, kicked her legs free from the ice, and cracked her knuckles together, with a mischievous smirk. "This might even be entertaining after all. I haven't spanked a vampire lord in a good while."

* * *

Shortly after, standing over a defeated, thoroughly beaten Evangeline and the just as unconscious, vaguely twitching bodies of the Rose Cross, Hild gently caressed one of Kitami's cheeks. "Alone at last, my dear disciple. Once again, we come together, as it must always happen, no matter what. No matter the world, no matter my shape, as long as you exist, you always must eventually come to me. Heed my voice, Kitami Reika-chan. And take my contract. Do you want to live?"

"Ahhhh... ahhhh..." Kitami's voice torturously worked out her throat, as the girl's eyes came open once again, from past the brink of death, not looking at the devil, or at anything else in particular.

The caresses made it down her neck. "I know what you must be wondering. But right now, this aspect of me leans towards corruption and depravity rather than violence and bloodshed. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy what has just transpired here, but the times where I was barbaric and demanded blood sacrifices have passed... for now. I'm not interested in making you kill each other in my name, anymore. Oh, true, I won't mind if you humans want to bombard and stab and shoot each other and corrupt your souls through murder, all the more power to us, but you know what they say about the devil's best trick, and all of that. Right now, my dear, what I want from you is for you to be my woman at this Academy. For I really want a strong foothold here, on these sacred grounds. Prime royal state property, and with so many pretty souls to feed from... like yours," she purred, placing a light kiss on Reika's bloodied collarbone. "You'll make for such a fine start. If you take my offer. Which I know you will."

"Haaaahhhhh...! Hiiiiiihh..." Reika exhaled and inhaled.

"Because, just like Eva-chan said, with that occasional bit of wisdom of hers," the devil cooed, lightly playing with Reika's hair, "there are far worse things awaiting humanity than death. And if you take my offer, and you are patient, you shall be granted the means to take the proper revenge on those who wronged you, and, perhaps even more importantly -" And she pressed a heel down on Evangeline's throat, grinding it there as she chuckled. "- those who abandoned you as well."

Reika's eyes finally zeroed on hers. They were now cold, empty, harrowed eyes, meeting Hild's strangely placid and warm ones. And Kitami Reika nodded.

As Hild knew she would. She had chosen her for a reason, after all.

* * *

Later, much later, Evangeline and Rie sat in Konoemon's office, side by side, before the old man's desk. Takahata stood next to Konoemon's chair, managing to show a completely flat expression, which actually impressed Evangeline more than anything else she had seen recently. She wouldn't admit it, but he had made a lot of noticeable progress over the years.

Konoemon's anger and disappointment were more obvious, although most of his face remained shadowed by his thick white eyebrows, and the rest of it remained hidden behind his folded hands and their long, shriveled fingers. "So this is how it will be," he grimly finished, in a tone Evangeline had never heard him use before. "Their memories, of course, have been erased, and although most of them seem to have reacted favorably to the treatment, we still can't get Himeno-kun to snap back to normal. The Kazahana Foundation has asked us to deliver her to them for special treatment, and we're hopeful they might do something for her. As for Kitami-kun, despite all our tests, we still can't find anything abnormal within her, so we only can keep her under supervision and pray for the best."

"Well, then, all's well that ends well, right?" Morita gulped nervously.

Konoemon's angry glare fixed on her now. "No, Morita-kun, this hasn't ended well. Thanks in no small part to you, Mochida-kun's reputation has been destroyed, and she'll be fortunate if she isn't left traumatized for life. You also played a part on having another fellow student abused and nearly killed, and frankly, were up to me, you'd be turned into an ermine, at the very least. You and your partners in crime are in luck that your disappearance from the public eye would raise more questions than we can handle at the moment, so it was decided you would be given a second chance that, frankly, none of you deserve."

"But, anything for the greater good," Evangeline mused aloud.

"Don't tell me about the greater good, Eva," Konoemon wagged a finger at her. "You've betrayed the good will this faculty has placed upon you, risked bringing a great evil onto these grounds, jeopardizing every life in this campus, just to satisfy your own perceived needs!"

"Perceived?!" the vampiric blonde said.

"Yes, perceived!" Konoemon shouted back. "You've been selfish, manipulative, treacherous and uncaring! We gave you a single task, one you accepted in trade for a benefit of your own, and what did you do? You twisted that assignment behind our backs in a short term bid to cheat your way through something you should have earned! You still haven't understood a single thing of what Nagi tried to teach you!"

"Anyone who's naive enough to trust a self-proclaimed Empress of Evil deserves whatever's coming to them," Evangeline sneered.

"And I imagine," Takahata said, "that includes Kitami-san."

Eva flinched for a moment before saying, "I never wanted anything bad to befall her. I never made a single move against her. I tried to keep her out of harm's way."

"You didn't try hard enough," Konoemon lectured. "And regardless, she still fell prey to events you set into motion."

"But, but she won't even remember anyway, and you said you can't find anything wrong with her, so what's the problem then?" Rie asked. "If anything, I got a worse deal out of it, and I'm not complaining."

"Yet," Evangeline scoffed. "You just wait until the Thirst starts."

"Thirst?" Rie repeated.

"Morita-kun," the Headmaster said, "never, ever again, treat others' suffering so slightly. Even if it seems undone now, it doesn't change the fact you had no reason to think that any damage you'd be causing would be anything other than permanent. You have acted despicably, and you'll have to work very hard to redeem yourself. Just like Evangeline. Now, your new condition can't be easily reversed, so there's no point in wiping your memories away. Evangeline, you've done this to her, so you know what to do."

"Really?" Eva asked. "Haven't you just told me I couldn't be trusted? Why not handing her over to Tepes, instead? After all, you two get along so well."

"The Princess didn't do this to her," Konoemon said sharply. "And so she shouldn't be burdened with your mistakes. It's about time to start taking responsibility for the lives you derailed... or do I need to remind you of Karin-san?"

Evangeline scowled furiously. "You can't do that, you can't expect me to look after someone who nearly killed -"

"Nagi-kun," Konoemon said then, "if you've got something to say, then please come in and do it. Instead of listening right outside my door. My secretary doesn't like it when you do that, remember?"

"What-" Evangeline's neck whipped back, and her eyes widened as the office's door was slowly pushed open from the outside. "You-" her voice went much lower and weaker, as she saw the man now standing there, before them all, with a hand on the doorknob and a long, bandaged wooden staff in the other.

"Hello, Takamichi, Old Man," the tall young man, in old and tattered traveler's fatigues, his hood down his shoulders, briefly nodded towards the other men. The cigarette had just fallen from Takahata's mouth, the teacher's expression finally gaining some emotion back. "It's been a while."

"Nagi," Evangeline moved around on her seat without even realizing it. Her throat was dry all of a sudden, and her motions were erratic and stiff enough to surprise Rie. "Why are you, what are you-"

"The headmaster told me that you'd made a friend, and were doing some good deeds," Nagi Springfield calmly, distantly, said. "I was pleased to hear it, and since I was coming here anyway, I thought I might show up, see how you were doing, look into the possibility of loosening some of the chains that bind you as a reward for good behavior ... but clearly that was premature. Anyway, like I said, I was looking to put the old band back together. Takamichi, I'd like you to come with me to Kyoto, to meet up with Eishun. It's urgent. No joke."

"Hey, don't just ignore me, you bastard!" Evangeline jumped from her chair, stomping her way towards him, shaking a fist. "The bloody nerve of you, showing up after three years without a single word, and now just acting as if I wasn't even here, after all you did to me! This is ultimately all your fault! If you hadn't locked me here with these children, they wouldn't ever have-!"

"They probably would have regardless," he interrupted her, still not deigning to look at her. "Kids are like that. Always finding ways to screw things up. I should know. But I still trust the Old Man's judgment on that over mine. He's the teacher, after all."

"It pains me to say Eva is at least right in that it's my own fault as well, Nagi-kun," Konoemon sadly shook his head. "My own decisions aren't infallible either."

"Eh, nobody's perfect, Gramps, don't beat yourself over it," Nagi shrugged, in a vague imitation of his usual carefree manners, before he added, "Takamichi, it's about You-Know-Who. She needs us, again. Looks like she's been found, and her secret's compromised."

"I'll go with you, of course," Takahata nodded without hesitation.

"She?!" Eva gasped. "Who are you talking about?! Damn it, you bastard! Don't tell me you've been spending these years just goofing around again, swooning over stupid women who-"

Now he finally looked down at her, and his stare was fire. "The woman I'm talking about," he growled, "is not stupid at all, and as a matter of fact, she's vastly more worth my time than stupid children who refuse to learn their lessons. When those children show they're ready to graduate, **then** I'll think about lifting the spells that bind them. As soon as I learn how to do that, of course."

"You don't even know how to undo it?!" she cried.

"I'll try to learn after I've got the real important stuff out of the way," he dismissed, gesturing towards Takahata. "Well, what are you waiting for? We don't have all day long! It's a real long trip ahead of us!"

"Sir?" Takahata looked at the Dean. "Are you sure you'll be-"

Konoemon nodded. "It's only the devil, Takamichi-kun. We've handled worse. If she needs you, you should be there for her."

"No, seriously, who do you mean?!" Evangeline protested. "NAGI!"

"I'll tell you when you're older, kid!" Nagi waved without looking back at her, as he quickly ushered Takahata out of the room. "In the meanwhile, Gramps, be as harsh to her as you need to if she ever steps out of line again! Don't spare any expenses!"

"Curse and confound you, Nagi Springfield!" Evangeline spat fire as she went after him. "You don't even think you can escape my wrath after all you've- Unnhhhhh!" she said as the door was slammed on her face, and she fell on her butt, with two band-aids crossed on her features. "Not fair, not fair!" she whined, slamming her fists on the floor. "It's all really his fault, you know! Why does he keep pretending it isn't!"

Konoemon sighed, with the air of a heavily burdened man. "Maybe that's what you like so much about him," he grumbled in a low voice. "It must be like staring into a mirror."

* * *

"- so don't ever ask me about that man again," Evangeline said as she and Rie walked towards the small lonely path leading into the woods, under the early pale moonlight. "As for you, you'll be staying with me until you master your Thirst, assuming you ever do. Soon, your curse will start acting up, and you will be consumed by a painful, torturous desire to murder and drink the blood of any living beings who cross your path. That's why, for everyone's good and my amusement, I will be locking you inside of my resort until you either control your primal self or it drives you into incoherent insanity."

"... that sounds really nasty," Rie cringed, still absently caressing one of her newly sharp fangs with a finger.

"You always wanted to contact the supernatural, didn't you? Rejoice, now you are the supernatural," Evangeline grumbled, before stopping undead on her tracks. "What are you doing here?" she asked the person who had just appeared before them.

"Ah. So you're here," Kitami Reika blankly said, stopping as well. "I had gone to the cabin, to see if you were there, to ask you about Poppy-chan... but I see I shouldn't have bothered."

"Kitami, I-" Eva inhaled, then waved a hand around. "I've been thinking about it, and arrived to the conclusion maybe we should start seeing other people. I mean, what you need to do is to hang around people of your own age more often, and I'm only going to be an obstacle for that."

"I didn't mind being around you. Really, I didn't," Reika replied, with an air of fatalistic finality. "But yes, you're probably right. Does that apply to Morita-kun, as well?"

Rie blinked. "Um, well... m-my club's been disbanded, and I had to move out after a... falling out with my roommates, so..."

"She's staying with me for the time being, but definitely not because she's my friend or anything," Evangeline groaned. "As a matter of fact, I can't wait for the day she's off my hair again."

"You never could, could you?" Reika quietly mused, then began walking again, past the two girls, and back towards the dorms. "Well, be good with each other, then. If you can. Sorry about your club, Morita-san, it looked really fun. Maybe I should have joined while I could. The President's decisions are always causing problems, aren't they?"

"Kitami, wait," Eva told her retreating back. "You... you never did ask me about the dog."

"Have you seen him?" Reika coldly asked, stopping for only a moment, without looking back.

Evangeline looked down. "No. No, I haven't."

"Then there was no point in asking, was there?" Kitami asked before disappearing back into the night.

Rie and Evangeline stood together, in silence, over the next few moments.

The green haired girl finally asked, "When you woke up, are you really sure you found her standing there alone? With nobody else?"

Eva threw a casual but frustrated side punch against a nearby tree, which made a loud cracking sound and snapped by half, tossing leaves everywhere in its fall.

Rie wisely closed her mouth very tightly.

* * *

Nami really wished she could remember the accident where she had lost two of her front teeth, marring her peerless beauty forever. It was sort of strange, wishing to remember that kind of horrible event, but her lack of memories on the subject wouldn't stop bothering her.

Akashi-sensei, Konoemon-sensei, Takahata-sensei and even Morita-san, who apparently had been there as well when it happened, had told her she had fallen while arranging the decorations for the next school party, now that she didn't have Junko constantly on hand for that sort of thing. Stupid perverted Junko. And then Nami had hit her head and lost consciousness, but the doctors said she was fine now, and they had given her a flawless dental work, so Nami's father had been convinced not to sue the school. It still made Nami mad, but she realized there was little even she could do about it, after the fact. Her missing teeth wouldn't come back no matter what, and the artificial replacements were impossible to identify as such unless one got extremely close.

Not that Nami planned to kiss anyone anytime in the near future. She was burned out on romance for a good while.

Of course, despite those plans, that late afternoon, while she finished organizing the last stash of documents for the upcoming Festival, cruel fate saw fit to send Junko back to the Student Council's office.

Nami coldly glared at her over her papers. "What are you doing here? Didn't they tell you we have removed you from the Council?"

"They have, yes," Junko calmly answered. "I was hoping, though... you would be the one to tell me."

"I'm too busy as to waste my valuable time on a shameless exhibitionist who brought dishonor on us," Nami said, returning to her paperwork. "If you're here for your things, Hiroshi put them all in a box and sent it to the Headmaster's office. Go look there and get out my sight. You're lucky you didn't get expelled."

Junko sighed. "You were right. Come in, then," she said to someone waiting outside, in the hall.

Kozono frowned at her. "Who are you talking to- Oh," her frown grew, seeing Shindou, Kitami and Hiratani walking in, as Junko closed the door behind them. "Well, but if it's the biggest collection of people I never wanted to see again. Hiratani-san, I don't know how you got those ridiculous rumors about you and me started, but-"

"Be quiet, whore!" Kitami snorted out a corner of her mouth, startling Kozono, more because of the tone than the words themselves. "Aren't you quite the pretty decent princess again? Only waiting for another trigger to show your true colors once more. Disgusting."

"What... what did you call me?!" Nami stood up, slamming her hands on the desk. "I should have known! That demure, cute facade was nothing but a cheap act, wasn't it? What are you trying to do? Blackmailing me about what happened the other day? You don't have anything on me, you-!"

In only two steps and a blink, Kitami was right in front of her, slapping her so hard Nami's mouth bled instantly. The struck girl staggered back, taking a hand to her mouth, and finding the loosened fillings now rested between her fingers. "How... How dare you?!"

"Do you want an answer, President? Do you want an explanation? Fine, I'll give you an explanation," Kitami shrugged. "No amount of mortal magic could ever dispel a pact made with the devil herself, so it was child's play for me to pretend to forget, and then gather those with reasons to hate you, and bring their memories back as well. "... or just filling them in Junko-san's case. She was mad at us, and mostly at Saki-chan, for a little while, of course, but I think we managed to win her over. Right, Junko-san?" she asked with a pleasant smile in Junko's direction.

Junko looked away. "Just make it quick, all right? Don't drag it out."

"I'll try," she said, then turned back to Nami and mouthed, _No I won't_. "Of course, after this, we'll just keep bide our time, right under the noses of these incompetent hacks who think they could keep me under wraps. And in the meanwhile, we'll start having our fun with you. That's your explanation. Are you pleased now? Or do you want the context for it as well? Tough luck, then."

"Are... are you crazy?!" Nami took a step back from them, now feeling terrified and restless. "Are you on drugs, is that it, you, keep away from me, you -!"

"Keep away? Why, President?" Kitami smirked. "Didn't you want me so much, you'd do anything to get me? And now that I want you, you reject me, so coldly and cruelly? What an evil, evil woman. I think I could learn a lot from you," she idly mused, a finger on her own chin while the others began pulling off their clothes.

"Don't touch me," Nami shuddered. "Don't you dare touch me! I'll give you anything; money, whatever, just d-don't touch me."

"There's only one thing I want from you, President," Kitami purred while pulling her skirt down her long legs. "And that's for you to suffer what I suffered, being abused without knowing why, being raped without understanding the reasons, crying for release while never being granted it."

Kitami's pink panties joined her skirt on the floor, and Nami couldn't help staring at the naked crotch she had wanted so much before that day. Then the clitoris under the small patch of blond hair twitched, and suddenly grew swollen. Nami shrieked in panic as the clitoris also grew longer, far longer, taking the twitching appearance of a thick, erect penis.

Kitami chuckled, still with the last vestiges of that innocent, childish giggle. A glee that died as soon as she added, "I've been learning several new things, Nami-chan. Let me share them with you, just like you shared the precious gift of darkness with me. These are my thanks. And your doom."

Nami's scream barely had started leaving her mouth when Kitami's lips blocked it, and her hands wrapped icy fingers and sharp nails savagely around Kozono's wrists, scratching the skin until they drew blood.

* * *

**To Be Continued**.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I actually liked how the first half of this chapter turned out a lot (and I'm rarely satisfied at my own work), but I'm more ambivalent about the second one. Although I also thought the first Origins OVA did a far better job at setting the story up than the second one did at wrapping it, so I think my story was faithful to the original's spirit in that regard.

This chapter was going to have actual cameos from Akashi-sensei and a very small Yuuna and her mother, but that scene ended up being so superfluous and tacked on I ended up discarding it.

Well, that's all for now! See you around next time, if we're all still alive!

* * *

**Editor's Notes:**

This has been... interesting. I've never actually seen any of the Bible Black series (never seen La Blue Girl or Legend of the Overfiend, either, but never mind that now) and yet here I was, proofing (and contributing a few jokes to) a story based on it. I look forward to seeing what's going to happen to Kitami over the years to come, as she enjoys the fruits of her "courage never to submit nor yield", to quote someone or other. (But I hope that she'll find out that there are things "not to be overcome".)

Where all this is going, I can't imagine. I also can't wait to find out.

* * *

**More Author's Notes:**

I haven't watched La Blue Girl or Legend of the Overfiend either, and I don't plan to anytime soon…


	3. Nanoha, Fate, Chrono, Lindy, Leti, Amy

_Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha_ belongs to Seven Arcs Entertainment.

_Bible Black_ belongs to Active Software/Kururi Active.

Special thanks to Shadow Crystal Mage and to Manabe Jouji and his Working Official Disqualification doujinshi for the inspiration.

As always, thanks to Darkenning as well for the proofreading.

* * *

**OverMaster Corrupts Every Work of Fiction Ever.**

* * *

**Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st: Working Official Disqualification**.

* * *

_Five Years Later:_

It was a hot full moon night in Mahora. The boy could feel the humid heat on his face as he ran, following the loud humming sounds and the smell of scorched grass ahead of him.

Until a few hours ago, he hadn't even known this particular world was inhabited, much less by sapient, mostly civilized humanoids. From what little he had managed to see of it, they had a nice, even if mostly magic-deprived culture, but he still didn't feel comfortable with the idea of resorting to asking any locals for help. This was his mess, and he'd clean it up.

The short blond young man clad in green stopped near a lake, where he saw the monstrosity hovering over the quiet waters. It had grown to an abnormal size, sprouting several extra pairs of misshapen wings from its back. Its mouth drooled profusely, and the lower part of its body literally burned with an unholy flame that ought to consume it, only to be kept in check by the creature's heightened healing factor, which repaired the burn wounds as soon as they were made.

As expected, the local wildlife changed for the much worse when exposed to a Jewel Seed.

The boy panted for only a moment before pulling the red gem out. "You shouldn't be here!" he said. Mutated beings sometimes gained a dim sense of self-awareness and rationality that could often be exploited by talking to them, but the firefly seemed to be too primitive a species for it. It just spat a column of fire in the boy's direction, who rolled aside expertly and thrust his hands forward. From the gem, several thin lines of greenish-looking magical power flowed out into the humid air, combining to form a circular shield covered by glowing runes.

The being's buzzing grew angrier and louder.

_"Return to your original form!"_ the boy said, manipulating the shield's energies to expand them around the insect, reaching for it, wrapping it tightly. _"By this power, I seal you, extracting the power out of you!"_ he chanted, hoping the gem's so far not-properly-tested-yet capacities were up to the task. For a few moments, it looked that they were. At the last second, the fire of the insect exploded in a miniature maelstrom, causing the binds to dissipate into nothing, and the whole lake to burst in all directions, splashing all over the boy, sending him in a tidal wave against a tree.

Even a few row boats that were in the lake crashed against the shore, breaking against some rocks. The boy spat water out, coughing and working back to his feet, before the monster charged against him, ramming him against the tree repeatedly. He kicked it back and raised another shield. Flying back, the being shook its wings with enough force to create a miniature whirlwind all around them, forcing the boy to stand his ground, gritting his teeth. Eventually, he couldn't keep applying enough pressure into his shields, and the impact of the monster's attack sent him down into the muddy ground.

Taking advantage of it, the insect tried to zoom back in, bursting into flames like a living torch, but the boy reacted in time and projected another ensnaring net of magic all over it, crushing it down without mercy, making it shrill horribly. Both of them exerted themselves in a struggle that seemed to drain them amazingly fast, until finally, the boy fell to one knee, wheezing and shaking. The firefly flapped back, apparently wounded and spent as well. Its eyes raged crimson for a moment before it flew as best as it could into the woods.

The boy tried to give chase again, but he stumbled and fell on his face after a few meters. His tired body began glowing as his magically adapted metabolism coped with the injuries and magic shortage by assuming a form more primal, less advanced, and easier to sustain. He shrank down, growing soft fur all over his body. A long tail sprouted from his spine.

By the time he stopped glowing, there was no trace of the boy anywhere. Only a small ferret on the ground, near a red gem.

Yuuno glared at the gem. "You hate me, don't you?" he said, before falling unconscious.

Not that it would have deigned to answer him anyway.

* * *

Somewhere in outer space, orbiting around Pluto under the protection of cloaking devices beyond the ken of anything at Earth or Mars (Venus was a different story, of course, but as long as they didn't do anything, the demons would bother with them either), a gigantic white and blue ship had arrived from interdimensional subspace. It was on a routine ten-cycle long mission monitoring the solar system's inhabited planets from afar, scanning the recent troubling developments happening across one of the Unadministered Worlds, but also under orders to never interfere unless those developments became a threat to the rest of the Galaxy.

In the meanwhile, the ship's crew enjoyed their free time with their own respective personal pursuits, which often included hobbies and training regimes copied from the societies they were watching over. In other cases, it meant continuing their private regimes brought from their homeworlds, adhering to the tried and true techniques of personal and military improvement. That was particularly important for promising youths who wanted to remain relevant in a highly traditionalist environment that valued cold efficiency above everything else.

And yet, the black haired boy whose perspective we are following for the time being was currently having problems assimilating his current course of action as a useful part of that growth, and wondering what it had to do with achieving his long cherished life goals.

_My name is Chrono Harlaown, and I am an officer candidate of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. However, to actually become an officer of the Bureau requires one to be an elite among the elite, since it's a position everyone strives to achieve_.

_So, with the upcoming promotion exams just around the corner, I've been redoubling my magical training lately. I'd like to think I've been as zealous and serious about it as one could ever be while not straining and compromising one's own physical and mental health._

_So, why am I fooling around this way, then?_

The boy was the Mid-Childan equivalent of fourteen Earth years old (and actually, most humanoid species and races across the galaxy had childhood and early youth spans that were remarkably similar to those of Earthlings, so Chrono was, for all intents and purposes, an actual teenager for all of our standards) and yet he looked remarkably younger, twelve at most. The two feline humanoids currently licking all over his throat and toying around with his thick black uniform shirt found that to be one of his most remarkable and appealing assets.

"So cute," one of them purred, puffing soft, warm breaths onto Chrono's skin.

"Fuah... I really like those tiny sounds you make," the other one added, lightly running her sharp teeth across his neck. He knew, should she ever get mad enough as to actually chomp as hard as she could, she could certainly behead him, so he remained quiet and stoic, and not only because of his stubborn drive to stay formal and look in control (or at least, in as much control as he could claim, given the circumstances.) Not that he thought they'd ever really hurt him at all. But, then again, cats were unpredictable creatures.

_I'm currently training under Liese Lotte and Liese Alia. They are the familiars of Grand Admiral Graham, a close friend of my late father._

"Fuh fuh, fuh," Lotte, the catgirl with the shorter hair, chuckled/meowed as her face went up to kiss and lick on one of Chrono's cheeks, cupping the other cheek in a delicate hand with the claws pulled in. "You silly Blackie... what are we ever going to do with you, if you can't even remove such a basic binding?"

Okay, so not all of his stubborn refusal to move had to do with his determination. So perhaps some of it also had to do with the tight magical wards keeping his arms above his head, and his legs firmly attached to his bed.

"Uahhhh, stop it," the boy requested, closing his eyes and trying to think of sports, or rather to deeply regret never having any interest on the topic before. It might have helped him to keep his wits about himself at this particular moment. _Might_. "Stop doing that, this isn't part of the protocols, I doubt this is approved by, by -" he added, dearly hoping he wasn't actually sounding as pathetic as he heard himself.

"The enemy isn't going to follow protocols, Blackie," Aria, who had much longer hair, falling down her thin waistline, purred while pulling Chrono's pants and underwear down his legs. "That's why they're the enemy! You could have prevented this if you had been more careful, you know."

"I was in my room!" he protested while Aria tossed the garments aside, chuckling at his cute erection, which at least looked more fourteen than twelve. It was good to know he'd eventually take after his father. "You shouldn't have been here to begin with!"

"Nonsense, one must be prepared for ambushes anywhere, even in the sanctity of one's own home," Aria teased, starting to softly stroke the shaft with her fingers. "Again, the enemy isn't ever going to worry about the regulations, so why would we, who are supposed to act as your enemies?"

"Only to keep you on your toes, as a good officer should always be!" Lotte added piously, as she went lower down the bed to join her twin before Chrono's exposed crotch. "Awww, look at it, isn't it just the cutest thing ever?" She poked at its wet tip with a single claw. "And it's already pre-cumming!"

"Blackie finds us sexy! Oh, what should we do? Tell the Captain? Tell Amy?" Aria teased, smacking her lips together twice.

"Don't- Don't you dare-!" Chrono hissed. "That's, that's just a natural reaction that is all your own fault! Right now, all parts of me are tense and taut because I'm about to escape! This, this has nothing to do with excitement!"

"Nonsense, everyone knows you can't get tense to escape, you have to loosen up and relax," Aria, always more of a teacher than her sister, chided him, wagging a finger. "That's going to cost you a few points. At least a dozen, don't you think, Lotte?"

"Who knows?" she shrugged. "Blackie's a boy genius, so maybe he invented a new way to escape while tense. So I think we should make sure he won't escape, by placing more pressure on his most tense area."

Aria's eyes shone. "That's brilliant! Sometimes you've got real good ideas!"

"Aw, shucks, I try!"

Chromo squirmed further. "No, wait, what are you planning... Iiihhhhh!" he said as the two girls placed another binding spell on his cock, making him feel like a very big hand was squeezing it, and not too gently either.

"Take this!" Aria crowed.

"Wow, a multilayered bind? You're a devil!" Lotte said.

"Well, you know me, when I do something, I set out to do it well."

"Are you saying I do things half-way?"

"P-Please..." Chrono moaned.

The two girls blinked, looking up at his strained face.

"Maybe we overdid it?" Lotte wondered.

"If he can't take this, he can't take the test either," Aria said. "Blackie, hurry up and break it already! We know you can do it!"

He held his tears of pain back. Training from Hell indeed. He doubted even the Deviluke were this harsh with their recruits. "I don't mind the pain... but why do you have to take so much pleasure from it? That's, that's what bothers me the most ..."

The catgirls blinked, looking at him with shock, as if a very big realization had just hit them. Then Aria looked at Lotte and said, "You know, what if he's right? We do this sort of thing all the time, and without a thought for his feelings."

Lotte frowned. "What do you mean? You aren't being conned by his attempts to get an easy break, are you?"

"Well, no. You heard him, he's a big man and doesn't mind the pain. But, the stick and the carrot, you know? Maybe Blackie isn't advancing fast enough because our punishment and reward system includes too much punishment, too little reward."

"I see," Lotte nodded. "We enjoy ourselves a lot, but maybe we're missing the point by doing so, we're treating it as a game, and it's making us sloppy teachers."

"Thanks for understanding!" Chrono cried.

"Still," Aria wagged a finger again, "we can't cut back on the stick either, or Blackie will lose all his hard learned discipline."

Lotte nodded again. "So, what we have to do ... is applying the stick and the carrot at the same time!"

"Exactly!" Aria approved, and they shook hands. How alien races would know about carrots is something to be answered another day, perhaps a February the 31th.

"Wait, w-wait, I don't understand, why-" Chrono stammered before Lotte delicately kissed his mouth.

"You're such a bad boy, Blackie," she hummed between lickings of her raspy tongue on his. "Making your own teachers wet for you..."

"Let's go with a full physical examination," Aria said, pulling his jacket and undershirt off, and rubbing a hand all over his chest. "Hmmmm... good tone, especially for your age, and the development down here is good, too," she nodded, taking hold of Chrono's dick and massaging it vigorously. "Can you ejaculate already, Blackie? No, on second thought, don't answer that. Mere verbal answers are worthless, an examiner always has to check the facts personally."

"Aria, please, think of what you are doooooooiiiiiing!" Chrono shouted as the catgirl wrapped her mouth around his phallus and began sucking him off in earnest.

"Oh, just look," Lotte noted while looking at the oral treatment her sister was giving the moaning boy. "It's twitching in your mouth, despite the binds! Commendable!" There was a brief pause. "By the way, aren't the binds bothering you either?"

"Deeeyyy dhickle!" Aria giggled, opening her mouth slightly so her sister could see the small magical barriers rubbing against its insides. Then she went back to sucking him off energetically.

Lotte pondered that for a moment before shrugging and start licking on Chrono's right nipple. "Sometimes, you're weird," she decided. "Anyway, it still feels good, doesn't it, Blackie?"

"Don't call me- aaaahhhh!" Chrono shuddered when Lotte mischievously bit on the nipple. "That hurts!"

Aria frowned while pulling back. "Lotte, that's pointless as part of the defense training. If someone is close enough as to bite him there, and he has no choice but to let them do so, then he's already lost anyway."

"It's part of the training to withstand torture!" Lotte said on the fly, while reaching down to pull her short tight skirt and white panties off. "Just like this! It may seem excessive, Blackie, but remember real torturers will never hold back!"

"H-Hey, wait!" Aria said as her twin placed her hindquarters above Chrono's exposed crotch. "If we do that, the Captain will-"

"Relax, I won't get pregnant, the bind will act as a condom!" Lotte said while descending onto the erection, hissing at the slow, gradual penetration as Chrono held back a scream. If this was a real torture test, and there even was a slight chance it could be, given his trainers' mindsets, he'd fail it if he showed how humiliating... terrible... awful... strangely pleasurable... he was finding it to be.

"That, that isn't what I meant, it's just it's one thing to- oh, blast! You at should have let me go first! As the oldest, it's my duty to take responsibility and -!"

"Nyah, nyah, nyah, I did it first, you didn't!" Lotte stuck her tongue out at her as she bounced rhythmically on Chrono's cock. "Live with it, annnhhh aaannnhhh! As expected from that man's son! Despite his age, he's still a real contender for the Bureau!"

"Well, obviously, or else we wouldn't be training him," a slightly annoyed Aria said as she undid her sister's jacket and shirt, to start taking pecks on her bouncing breasts. "Elite trainers only go to elite recruits!"

"Waaaiiii, waiiiiii, waaait, my father, how did, what are you trying, trying to say, what, what!" Chrono gasped as he fucked the catwoman and tried to block out the sensations of Aria's caressing hand on his ballsack. She was using the claws now, to boot, although the scratches still were only very weak and playful.

"Ask your mother," Aria purred, lowering her face from Lotte's bust so she could start suckling on Chrono's testicles. Glancing slightly up at the member penetrating her sister over and over, she cautioned, "You'd better start breaking those binds soon, Blackie. Or else your dick's going to burst. The wrong way."

"Wouldn't that be a shaaaaame," Lotte meowed, resting her hands on his chest to better support herself while squatting up and down. "Come on, come on, come on, you can do it, we believe in youuuuu."

"I'm trying!" Chrono struggled with all his might, attempting to focus his magic power and unleash it on the barrier as he had been thought, although for some reason all the lessons were becoming a garbled mess in his head now.

"Hurry up, it's starting to get purple," Aria said, taking another moment from her gland licking. "Oh, alright, don't tell anyone, but I'll help you." She dipped a finger into her own mouth, slickened it up with saliva, and then jammed it up Chrono's tight back entrance.

"Unnghhh...!" he said, tears flowing out his eyes as he trashed against Lotte, who responded with a long, loud mewl of pleasure. The he rammed a last time, strained himself, and pushed his magic out, finally breaking the binds and shooting a thick load of sperm that burst into the screaming Lotte's vulva. Aria, avidly, placed her tongue on said vulva to start drinking the white droplets that leaked out, as her thumb rubbed on Lotte's clitoris, bringing her into a full climax.

"And it's done!" a pleased Aria exclaimed. "Well, this time you can't tell me 'I haven't cum yet!'", so get off him already and let me give him the advanced course."

"Hah, hah, hah... there's more?!" Chrono cried.

"Of course there's more!" Aria said as she picked up Lotte, grabbing her by the armpits and easily lifting her up and away from his lap, as one would do to a kitten, despite them being the same size and weight. "Only mediocre performers falter after a single performance! And you're aiming for excellence! Buckle up, Blackie!" she said, jerking him up a few times before sitting on him and pulling her panties aside, then guiding his dick inside of herself.

"Don't call me Blackie!"

"Then what are we supposed to call you! Oh gods, please don't say 'Master', we only have one!"

Chrono blinked. "Why, why would I want you to call me 'Master'?"

Lotte shrugged as she playfully kissed his mouth. "Some men like that in this kind of situation, but make no mistake, if anyone's a Master in this relationship, that's us," she giggled, moving around so her vagina rested above Chrono's mouth. "Now, um, this part of your training will help you to, ahhh..."

Chrono began licking her before she could think of a new application or new binds to place on him, his now free hands massaging her buttocks and long furry tail.

For the most part, it worked.

* * *

Takamachi Nanoha had been having a perfectly average day. Get up, get dressed, admire how saccharinely close her family was, miss all the subtle hints Kyouya-niichan and Miyuki-oneechan kept tossing at each other over the breakfast table, help at the teahouse, meet her friends at the bus stop later on, go to do some shopping, miss all the subtle tsundere hints Arisa Bannings kept sending her way, miss Arisa's frustration after the fact, head back home, have dinner, finish spring break homework, watch some TV, play a few videogames, flip through some manga, ignore the weird sounds coming from Miyuki-neechan's bedroom, hear a mysterious voice calling her name…

Wait... that wasn't right.

Attracted by the voice ringing louder in her head, she lifted her large violet eyes from her magazine and towards her bedroom's window, staring into the nocturnal darkness outside. She could see faint purplish lights into the distance. Was it a firework show? That seemed unlikely, with nearly everyone away for the time being. While most of the students were away in their respective class trips, Mahora had become a temporary oasis of peace and calm, with most of the troublesome students and teachers away, spreading chaos through all other corners of Japan instead. It was an unusual state most of those who had stayed behind would have cherished to last forever.

Nanoha, however, had decided to stay to help look after the family's business (that was, the teahouse business) and, being blissfully adapted to functioning in the mayhem without ever becoming a real part of it, felt somewhat lacking in the stillness of these days. Sure, it was great to spend more time with her family, but she had come to miss her classmates and their often eccentric quirks. Sure, she barely understood such quirks, but much like the fish doesn't need to understand water, Nanoha still felt incomplete without them around.

Now, when someone feels that way in a story like this, their reaction will usually be to go, "Ah, I wish something interesting would happen!" That normally gathered a reaction from Yggdrasil in the event the individual musing in such a way was an ordinary elementary, middle high or high school student from Japan. Then they would normally send a Magical Girlfriend, talking animal, giant robot, cryptic mentor, ninja assassin or combination of the former to meet the individual and drag them into a wild life of Unresolved Sexual Tension, life or death battles, fanservice, and frustrating Accidental Pervert humor clichés. Then it all could be stuffed neatly into 13 episode-long seasons Peorth would end up collecting in manga and Blu-ray format.

Nanoha, however, was fairly satisfied with her lot in life, and her heart didn't really pine for such cheap thrills. She mostly only wanted the rest of her friends to be back already.

Yggdrasil still set her respective chain of supernatural events in motion, though. It was all part of the plan.

The lights had stopped for a while now, and so had the faint sounds in the distance. However, Nanoha still kept watching through her window for the time being, as if somehow waiting for something. If anyone had asked her the reason, she couldn't have answered with anything but a shrug of shoulders and an "I'm not sleepy yet". Besides, the whole area of Mahora at night was simply beautiful, down to the giant tree filling the horizon.

In any case, Nanoha began feeling sleepy without even realizing it. She slowly rested her folded arms on the window's frame and put her chin on them, and her eyelids came down at such a slow rate she never realized when she fell asleep.

After what seemed to be only seconds later, she heard enough of a heavy rustling of leaves below to snap back to awareness. She sneezed and shuddered, finding the cold nearly unbearable now. The girl looked at her clock, and noticed a full hour had passed. Huh. Well, that explained why she felt so cold.

Then the rustling caught her attention again, and she looked down, seeing a small brown shape making its way through the garden's bushes. Straining her eyes, she could see it was an animal with light brown fur limping and apparently in pain, and that left her with a single choice.

* * *

Takamachi Momoko rubbed her heavy-sleep blue eyes and gave the animal her little daughter was holding in her hands a look.

"Mom, he's wounded, and needs medical attention."

A stiffled yawn. "Where did you find it?"

"I saw him shuffling through our garden, so I put on this coat and went down to help him. But I don't think I can do much for him."

"Did you remember to lock the door when you came in?"

"Yes, Mom. So, about the ferret..."

"Is that a ferret? I think it's an ermine."

"No, Mom, ermines are different. I know it, because the Headmaster's assistant often sets some free around the World Tree."

Momoko sighed and looked back into the bedroom. "Shirou, do you know the number of any veterinarians?"

Low, incoherent sleep mumblings came from the bed.

Momoko sighed. Again. "Tell Miyuki or Kyouya to help you bring it to the school nurse. I suppose she'll do, in a pinch."

Kyouya-niichan wasn't in his room for some reason, so Nanoha went to knock on Miyuki's door.

"Nee-chan, he needs a doctor. Mom told me you'd help me take him to Kitami-sensei's."

"A-A-At this hour?" Miyuki asked nervously, still buttoning the upper buttons of her night shirt, her hair in disarray and her glasses slightly askew. "Geez, Nanoha-chan, are you sure he can't wait until tomorrow? He doesn't look that banged up."

Nanoha held an index finger up. "Mom told me 'In case she refuses, tell her we're on to her, and we know she can take at least one hour away from it'."

Miyuki gasped. "Just give me a minute and I'll be out there with you! I'll just put something else on!"

"What did Mom mean by that?"

"I don't know, ask her!"

"Is there something moving under your bed, Nee-chan? I thought I just saw -"

"Y-Your imagination! Just wait outside!"

* * *

Actually, Kitami Reika was not an official school nurse yet, but since she'd finished her undergraduate degree a year ago and begun taking nursing classes, she'd been working part-time as the current nurse's newest assistant, and she'd become quite popular during the brief time she had been serving there. Already there were strong rumors she'd eventually take over the main position after her graduation, but that was still a few years ahead. And she lived only two blocks away from the Takamachis, so getting there was no problem at all. The problem was waking her up, since she was such a terribly heavy sleeper it took Nanoha and Miyuki almost ten minutes of heavy ringing and knocking to wake her up, and then half that time of waiting for her to drag her steps to the door.

Further actually, Kitami was a very light sleeper, but every time someone rang at her door, she was in bed, copulating with her latest conquest and future blackmail target, so she'd resorted to the 'heavy sleeper' excuse to make things easier for herself. This time was no exception, and after instructing the man she had been frolicking with to stay quietly hidden in the closet and never to touch anything while in there or else, she dressed up and walked for the front door.

Although 'dressed up' might be a slight exaggeration.

The first thing Nanoha saw when the door creaked open was two large globes of flesh barely covered by an unbuttoned white shirt. The rest of Kitami-sensei (not actually a Sensei yet, not that that stopped her from demanding to be called that, so everyone went along with it) followed seconds after.

"Yes?" the tall blonde asked, feigning to rub her eyes sleepily.

"Sensei, have you noticed you only are wearing an unbuttoned shirt?" A drop of sweat had appeared on Miyuki's head.

"Yes, well, that's one unbuttoned shirt more than what I sleep in." The blonde mastered a false yawn. "Is there something the problem?"

Nanoha held the ferret up. For some reason, the ferret seemed to blush. A lot.

"Oh! What a cute little ferret," Kitami observed. Like many sociopaths, she still had some love for animals, since, at the very least, they hadn't betrayed her yet. She disliked them far less than human beings, at least. "Is it for me? Why, I'm flattered!"

"He needs medical treatment!" Miyuki said.

"Oh, well, now that I look at him, yes, he does. But, at this hour, where could you possibly find a vet?" Reika affected what an affable, slightly daffy and well beloved sexy nurse would say in a moment like that, even placing a hand on her own cheek as she said it, for added effect.

"We were expecting you could help with that, please!" Nanoha said.

"Ah? Oh, I suppose I can try, yes," She smiled. Very nicely, not suspiciously at all.

* * *

As they walked back home, Miyuki put a hand on her small shoulder. "Relax, Nanoha-chan. She said he'd be okay, didn't she?"

"Yes, but still..."

"I'll bring you tomorrow so you can see him again," her older sister promised.

"Oh, thank you, Oneechan!"

"It's nothing! You don't have to thank me."

"But I'm worried about Kyouya-niichan. He wasn't in his room, and it isn't like him, to go out without telling everyone first."

"R-Really, Nanoha, Kyouya-kun is ... a big boy now. Think nothing of it."

"But what if he runs into a thief, or that creepy serial killer from the news, on his way? If he's all alone, he won't have anyone to protect him! Sorry, I think I've just said something too obvious. Next I'll be saying people die when they are killed."

"Believe me, Nanoha-chan, Kyouya-kun always carries protection."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Never mind, really..."

* * *

Deep within the woods near the Academy, the creature had retreated into a cavern to rest after the battle. Its remarkable physical constitution allowed it to heal quickly, even re-growing its missing limbs. It hummed and buzzed loudly to itself, flapping its wings even as dozens and dozens of eggs exited its body, littering the whole cave floor.

After a few hours, the eggs cracked open, and deformed glowing larvae crawled out of them, quickly eating all they found in their wake, from any passing animals to the grass that grew right outside; from the remains of their eggs to the smallest and weakest of themselves. Those who survived grew fast as at a clearly abnormal rate, and soon the hill was full of mesmerizing lights.

The forest began burning.

* * *

The ferret woke up with a killer headache, feeling his limbs numb and with a funny smell tickling his nose. He opened his eyes to find himself trapped in a small cage that seemed to have belonged to a parakeet or a similar bird, judging from the lingering stench still attached to it.

Caged like an animal! He wasn't the panicking-under-danger type, but for a moment, his heart still skipped a beat. However, right after that, his mind began to work on an elaborate, precise escape plan to be carried out as soon as possible. After all, he could smell the faint traces of smoke in the distance now, and if he craned his neck up, he could see the first tiny lights on the horizon through the window; the fires had just started again. He had to retrieve that Jewel Seed before it was too late.

His elaborate scheming was stopped when the tall, stunningly beautiful blond woman from before came out of the bathroom, still naked and rubbing her body and hair dry with a towel. "Oh, good, you woke up," she told him, sitting down at the table holding the cage, and reaching for a beer can she had left nearby after sending the man away with a mindwipe, without his clothes or wallet, and hypnotized to keep on walking until someone found him. He had touched her things, after all, but she was feeling nice that night, after being brought this unexpected gift. "Are you good to talk now? Because I'm fairly sure you can talk," she said, much to his panic, while taking her first drink from the can. "The essence of magic is readable all over you. An unfamiliar type of magic... but magic, regardless! And you have either set my base of operations ablaze -" This was said with a dispassionate look through the window. "- or are vainly trying to stop it from burning further. In either case, you're going to help me put out the fire, because no one else turns what is rightfully mine to ashes. What can I say? Once a Mahora girl, always a Mahora girl. Campus pride and all that shit."

Several moments of hurried explanations later, she quickly dressed up and followed Yuuno out, as he made his hasty way down the street, hoping his instincts and dazed sense of direction weren't tricking him and he was heading the right way. He had left it at that girl's garden right before she picked him up. He only hoped it still would be there, or that scary lady would probably kill him...

* * *

Meanwhile, Nanoha finished putting her pajamas on and took a last look out the window. The pretty lights in the distance had started again, and... Oh, God, were those fires? Nanoha could only hope that not much of the school would be badly damaged, and of course, that no one would be hurt or anything.

She was a born optimist, so she didn't dwell on it for long.

Casually looking down at the place where she had picked the ferret up, she saw the wind lifting a few leaves, revealing a round red jewel that had remained hidden underneath. Nanoha's already large eyes grew simply huge.

* * *

Evangeline A.K. McDowell, the Dark Evangel, etc, etc, sat on her bed wearing white silk and leather, with lace-edged stockings and matching gloves as she furiously tapped on her wireless controller, playing one of the fighting games Rie had just bought for her, _United Magical Girl Association Unlimited!_ Outside, the night was in full moon swing, taunting her with her inability to hunt in it properly.

So, to better isolate herself from it, she was wearing headphones, and thus missed the Headmaster's call for help with the current freak fires spreading through the Northern woods. It would be a while before the winds brought her the smell of smoke, so for now, Mahora's greatest magical power was conveniently unavailable, leaving free range for any novice guardian against the forces of darkness to make their debut.

Odds were she wouldn't have bothered to act anyway.

Outside her window, purple lights flickered in the distance.

* * *

"So? Where is it?" the scary blond woman urged him, seething each word.

"I, I don't know, but I had left it around here!" the ferret gasped, frantically rummaging through the grass and the bushes. After finally making it back into that garden, his frustration skyrocketed when he saw the gem was gone, and he could tell his current companion was not faring much better. The only footprints on the ground around them were small, and the only smells his newly improved nose could get from that spot were those of her body.

He turned back to look at Kitami. "The little girl who found me, is she the only child of this house?"

"As far as I know," she sneered coldly, looking at the windows to make sure the Takamachis hadn't spotted her yet. From what she had learned about them over the last few months, she knew they weren't to be trifled with, which made just ringing on their door and asking for the child and the gem a huge no-no. Still, it stood to reason to think she had grabbed the gem, and she probably still had it with her. They just needed to find her bedroom and sneak in there. "You'll have to go in there and look for her."

"Oh, man alive," he groaned. "I've never been good with women."

"It's about damn time you started learning, then!" Kitami threatened, a foot looming above his head. "Do you think we have all night long, critter?"

"Okay, okay, you don't need to tell me," Pushing those hopeless thoughts back, the ferret managed to make his way into the residence. It had been hard, with a body as small as this and lacking opposable thumbs, still hurt and aching all over, but with the scary woman's half-hearted help, he reached a window and opened it enough to sneak in. (She hadn't wanted to open it herself, saying something about fingerprints. It occurred to him that, if she really knew about magic, she could have opened it with a simple spell, but he reasoned she probably just wanted to see him suffer. He was right.) Landing with a thud on the carpeted floor, he picked himself up and dragged himself upstairs.

He paid attention to the doors, sticking his ear to them and letting his animal hearing listen to any signs of childish activity in there.

"Oh! Oh! Shirou! Right there! Right there!" a woman was shouting in the first room he found. "Oh yes! Harder! Harder!"

Blushing crimson, Scrya moved to the next door.

"Oh! Oh! Kyouya-kun, right there! Right there, yes!" a familiar female voice was crying there. The one with the glasses? "Oh yes! Harder! Harder!"

What kind of people lived with this poor child?

The third time was the charm. Only tiny sleeping sounds came from the inside, those of a very young person, delicate and feminine. Bingo! Now he only had to figure out how to get in.

Pushing the door didn't work. Scratching at it would only get her to look down, pick him up, and carry him back to the busty blonde who terrified him so much, without bringing the gem with her to boot. Not that the busty blonde wasn't very nice looking, despite everything, but even if she hadn't been so evil-looking and acting, there were priorities right now, dammit. Priorities that might require sacrifices of him. Sighing and making a mortified face, the ferret braced himself, pulled his head back... and started bashing it against the door as hard as he could.

After a few moments, Nanoha woke up blinking, sitting up on her bed. "Who's there?" she yawned.

The knocks continued, but no one answered.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Nanoha crawled out of bed and stumbled for the door, opening it only to find no one before her. She thought she felt something rushing in between her bare feet, though.

Blinking, she looked down, and she thought she caught the briefest glimpse of something hiding under her bed. The girl crouched down and looked there, but she found nothing on the floor beneath. Shrugging to herself, she yawned again and went back to sleep.

The ferret finally exhaled, allowing himself to drop from his gripping position. He had been clutching the mattress' bottom, at an angle he had bet would hide him from the girl. It had paid off, and now he could continue.

Carefully sniffing around and peeking in all directions, he saw the precious red object resting on top of the girl's nightstand. Finally, a stroke of luck! Enthused, he climbed his way up there and caught the perfect sphere between his teeth.

Then the girl's eyes flew open. "Ah-hah! I knew it was you!"

Yuuno made the best girlish shrieking sound a ferret can make with his mouth busy, jumped down from the nightstand, and ran like hell out, through the door the girl had luckily forgotten to close. The girl ran after him.

"Stop right there! You're still hurt! How did you escape Kitami-sensei?!"

It definitely wasn't shaping up to be his night.

* * *

"Did you find it?" Kitami asked as soon as she saw him leaping back out through the window, landing on the grass and rolling clumsily until he hit her feet. When he nodded weakly, showing the red gem clutched between his teeth, her eyes shone greedily, and she snatched the small precious object up, holding it against the silvery moonlight. "Good job! I can feel its power already! With this, I'm sure I could-"

"Ferret-saaaaaaan!" came the annoying high pitched voice of that child, from the inside. Kitami scowled again, deciding to get away before she could be found. It was terribly humiliating, to flee from a mere child after making a deal for power with the supreme ruler of Hell, and she was sure Hild-sama would laugh at her or worse next time they met. But she couldn't risk having Takamachi Shirou finding her in his home before she could learn how she could unlock the secrets of the artifact. After all, the man had made his living from both protecting and killing much more experienced mages than her, and he surely wasn't a former partner of Magus Killer Kiritsugu for nothing. So she ran away for the sidewalk, leaving the surprised ferret behind. After that initial moment of shock, Yuuno ran after her, yelling at her to stop and give his legit property back, dammit!

After putting on slippers and a coat over her pyjamas, the child stormed out the front door, which the fleeing Yuuno guessed was a testament to her capacity while pursuing a cause, hopeless as it could be, but frankly, he had no time or desire to dwell on that now.

"Ferret-san, wait, you aren't- Sensei?" Nanoha strained her eyes through the darkness, glimpsing the retreating shapely back of the blonde running away from her house. "Sensei, it's me!" she said, much like she always did whenever she'd show up at the infirmary with the latest classmate she had befriended after beating the stuffing out of each other. "It's Nanoha! Why are you running, Sensei?"

It annoyed him (and he only could imagine how much more it annoyed the scary lady) how she kept running after them even after they crossed a street and headed down towards Kitami's house. Honestly, were all children in this world like that?

"Sensei, Ferret-san, come back right now!" Her tone was imperative and almost angry now, and somehow, it almost tempted him to go back, fearing for his life for some reason he couldn't understand, but couldn't deny feeling, either. But he still kept on running, even after Kitami's sprint left him hopelessly behind. Hoping to lose her already, he crossed another street and ran into a convenient empty lot. He didn't know a lot about girls, but he knew girls used to fear wandering into empty lots at night. That was a constant between young girls of any and all civilized worlds in existence...

Without hesitating, the girl ran into the empty lot, right after him. "I've got you now, Ferret-san! I know this place too well! I play here all the time!"

What the Hells was wrong with this planet?

Sure enough, she corralled him near a corner. He gulped, backing up against a large billboard reading _**Mahora Lex-Mart coming here-Soon!**_ and doing a full body shudder. The tall shadow of the small girl loomed over him in a sinister fashion with the kindest, cutest of all smiles.

"Bad Ferret-san! Bad!" she gently chided, picking him back up as he whimpered. "You can't get out of bed while you're still recovering! You had Kitami-sensei running around for you, ill-worried, didn't you? You're almost as bad as Dad! Geez!"

Then she wrinkled her tiny nose. Yuuno tensed up in red alert.

"What's that smell?" she wondered aloud.

Then they heard a nearly deafening buzz exploding all of a sudden, and saw the large, deformed insect flapping its wings over them, shining as brightly as it was menacing. Its lower half seemed to be made of flames. It was a smaller firefly than the one he had fought the night before, but still, much more than he could handle right now.

_It's reproduced!_ Scrya thought frantically. A beat. _Damn it! It got laid before I did!_

"What ... what is that?" Nanoha took a wary step back.

Then the creature vomited fire in her direction.

* * *

Nanoha braced herself. No time to think of a better course of action, much less to move away. She closed her eyes and for some reason, the last thing she saw in her mind's eye was a beautiful blond girl with long twin tails -

– before feeling herself pulled out of harm's way, encircled by thin and lean but surprisingly powerful arms. She opened her eyes again, finding herself in the arms of - "K-Kitami-sensei?"

The blonde growled, not at her, but at the ferret Nanoha still was holding. "It didn't work!" she said, dashing with remarkable speed to duck behind a brick wall with her current charges.

"What?" Nanoha babbled.

"I tried to activate it with a basic trigger spell, and it nearly knocked me unconscious!" The enraged woman tucked Nanoha under an arm, then used her free hand to fling a few paper charms with obscene drawings on them at the approaching monster, making it buzz a couple of meters back, writhing in pain. "It rejected me! The nerve of your stupid trinket!"

"No, seriously, what?" Nanoha asked, her eyes shrinking down into dots.

The firefly growled (despite the fact Nanoha was pretty sure fireflies couldn't growl) and charged down at them again, but then Kitami-sensei gestured around with her available hand and darkly chanted, _"Rafael. Gabriel. Michael. Uriel!"_

A large and glowing blue pentagram was shot out of Sensei's right hand. Keeping Nanoha secured in place with her left arm, the young woman growled a heartfelt "Fuck off!" and sliced the giant insect apart with her magical projection, as it passed right through it like a knife cutting through a bar of butter. Nanoha cringed, but made no sound save a choked gasp.

As the halves of the firefly hit the ground, Kitami seemed to relax for a moment, wheezing from the effort and dropping the small redhead, with no particular gentleness. But then, two more giant fireflies flew in buzzing furiously, spitting fire in all directions. Kitami produced more paper charms from between her fingers.

"How do you do that?" Nanoha asked.

"Don't ask stupid questions and go home!" Kitami assumed a battle stance. "Bring your father and tell him to bring heavy weaponry!"

"Heavy weaponry? We don't have any- A-Anyway, I can't leave you here, alone! Come with us! Those things could hurt you!"

"Eh," she grunted, momentarily paralyzing the flying aberrations with more of her charm throwings. "I've been 'hurt' before. I doubt these animals can do any worse than - Ferret, just tell me how to unlock the gem's power already, damn you! It's all I-" Then she noticed she didn't have the gem on her anymore. "Damn you to hell, weasel!"

As the ferret nervously made a quick string of impotent little noises through his teeth and the jewel they held in place once again, Nanoha bit her lower lip and fled after seeing several more fireflies approaching. "I'll bring help!" she promised, running back toward her home.

Yuuno noticed the red gem was reacting now, glowing more and becoming so hot in his mouth it actually hurt his small tongue. He spat it out, grabbing it between his furry paws.

"What were those things? Why are they attacking us?" Nanoha wondered aloud as she ran.

"They're Jewel Seed spawns," the ferret said.

"Jewel Seed? What's a Jewel See—?" the girl stopped immediately. "Wait, did you talk just now? Sensei was right! Oh, wow!"

Then she saw two red eyes glowing in the darkness ahead. Another mutated insect was scouting the area. Before it could spot her, Nanoha swallowed hard and leaped between a lamppost and a trash can, ducking low and hugging the ferret tightly. _"They're everywhere,"_ she whispered.

_"They won't stop multiplying until the primary is sealed,"_ the ferret whispered back, making Nanoha's skin crawl. _"And I know only one way of doing it. I can't do it as I am now. Neither can that scary lady, it seems. But the gem seems compatible with you. You might be able to pull it off."_

"_Eh?"_ she blinked.

_"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be asking this from you,"_ he lamented. "_But I'll reward you properly as soon as I can, I swear it."  
_  
_"Reward me? For what?"_

_"I only want you to lend me some of your strength for a short while, until this situation is sorted out, and I can resume my task... I know I have no right to ask this from you, but many innocents could get hurt if we don't act soon."_

She gulped. _"My house is near here! Are you telling me I can stop those things from burning it down? I'll do it!"_

_"I warn you, it might be not easy at all."_

_"Forget that, I'll do it!"_ she said. _"What do I have to do?"_

_"Take the gem. Hold it firmly in your hand_," the ferret instructed. Nanoha obeyed quickly. _"That's it. Now -"_

_"What's your name?"_ she asked.

_"Yuuno Scrya! Look, that really doesn't matter right now!"_ he sighed. "_Now, repeat after me -"  
_  
_"Scrya is your given name, or your family one?"_

_"My family one, although I was adopted, actually. I never got to meet my— Ahh, no, let's not talk about that! We have to—"_

_"Then you're a foreigner?"_ Nanoha guessed from the order of his names.

_"Yes! Yes, I am! Now just repeat what I say!"_

_"Okay,"_ Nanoha nodded, feeling the almost unbearable warmth in her palm. _"Hey, this is very hot."  
_  
_"Close your eyes,"_ Yuuno ordered.

_"Close your eyes,"_ Nanoha repeated.

_"Um, actually, that was just a command, not something you had to repeat yet. Sorry."_

Nanoha sighed and obeyed.

_"I, accepting this mission..."_

_"I, accepting this mission..."_

_"... through this ancient contract, command you to bestow your power upon me..."_

_"... through this ancient contract, command you to bestow your power upon me..."_

_"The wind is in the sky, the stars are in heaven. A driven heart is in my chest..."_

_"Um..."_ Nanoha cringed for a moment at the undiluted cheesiness. _"The wind is in the sky, the stars are in heaven. A driven heart is in my chest..."_

_"I call the magic into my hand..."_

_"I call the magic into my hand..."_

Then she felt it blazing in her mind, and it all made sense. It was as if she had been born for that moment, and all of her life had been a lead up to it. The gem itself was talking to her now, probably only in her brain, although it was difficult to say anymore. "_**What. Do you know. About. Magic?"**_ it asked, in a strange voice which sounded like a set of pieced together recordings.

"Nothing," Nanoha answered honestly and above all quickly.

_**"Then. I. Will teach you. Everything,"**_ it said, and Nanoha briefly wondered how a set of pieced together recordings could sound so very very hungry. Regardless, her first lesson came instantly. She knew instinctively, or maybe remembered, what she had to say next, and she said it before the ferret could.

Nanoha raised her hand, opening her eyes again. "Raising Heart!" she called forth, feeling as if she was reading from a cue card in her brain. "Set Up!"

The mechanical, perhaps female voice seemed to call back from inside the jewel, with what Nanoha recognized as a particularly savage sort of joy. _**"Stand by. Ready. Set Up!"**_

And the whole street was bathed by an all consuming pink light, coming from the jewel and sweeping up and around, attracting the attention of the closest fireflies. Kitami saw it as well, from where she was being overwhelmed by the creatures currently holding her back, forcing her onto the defensive; and she sneered viciously while risking a brief glance in that direction.

When the light subsided down moments after, Nanoha found herself breathing hard.

"It's amazing," Yuuno breathed reverently. "I didn't really think it'd work..."

Going back to feeling like a normal girl who had just gone above her head, Nanoha asked nervously, "W-What now, Yuno-san?"

"Concentrate! Think of a weapon! Picture in your mind the kind of weapon you'd like to handle, and the outfit you'd feel the best in! Your own magic will do the rest!"

Bands of the same white light flashed around her, molding themselves to her skin, evaporating her clothes off and replacing them.

A white blouse appeared around her chest, loose enough to be comfortable, but tight enough to look functional and elegant. Two soft pink bows on her hair took shape, dangling like bells. Next came a long wrap-around skirt modeled after something she saw in a video game, in pure white with blue cuffs and trimmings, such as a big bow on the back and lacy frills and scalloped edges. A heart emblem on her chest hung like a necktie, and nice, heavy shoes, excellent for stomping, covered her feet.

And then, the long, impressive looking white staff with the golden end and the gem embedded into it appeared in the air before her. Without a moment of hesitation, she grabbed it firmly, and it felt like being reunited with a fond old friend.

All of this elaborate, SCM-inspired transformation sequence took place in less than one minute, although for any magic user, the first transformation sequence is the longest. So Yuuno now stood there with a stiff tail and huge blank eyes. "Oh my God! I-I-I didn't know it'd happen this way! Sorry, I'm so sorry!" he bowed frantically. "I should have looked aside!"

Nanoha looked down at him, curiously. "Why so flustered, Yuuno-san?"

"Ahhh, I, that is, never mind." Then he gasped and pointed in another direction. "LOOK OUT! Over there!"

Three of the same huge fireflies were coming in, blowing rings of fire in the around, flying through them as they zoomed in. Nanoha grimaced, stood her ground, and readied the staff in her hands.

Well, now this would be a difficult starting test...

Gulping hard, Nanoha swung her staff forward, trying to bat the three fireflies away before they could burn her. Her swing, by itself, didn't have enough reach, but the weapon reacted at the proximity to the enemy anyway.

_**"Protection,"**_ it spoke, in a perfect, even if stilted and accented, English.

And a large red barrier, a force field of sorts, glowing in scarlet, deployed itself around the girl, intercepting the insects in mid-flight, bouncing them away. They slammed off, one slamming hard into a tree and squashing under the force. The other two wove around drunkenly, stunned, and wandered off.

"Amazing!" Nanoha breathed out at last. "It was so easy! I'm a real superheroine now! Oh, and I think I'm going to be sick. Poor thing!"

Yuuno hummed, looking carefully at the staff. "It seems your weapon of choice uses a system of 'programming' that allows it to use offense and defense magic. I doubt it's purely defensive, or it'd most likely have manifested itself as a shield instead of a staff."

She blinked. "Wait, are you telling me you weren't sure how would this work?"

"Well, I couldn't get it to work this way for me before, but I'm familiar with intelligent weapons in general, although it's not my specialty," the ferret answered. "Let's see, if it works for you anything like it did for me, or as is the case with most intelligent weapons, as a matter of fact, you'll need to supply it with your spiritual energy."

She grimaced. "Will it suck my soul out?!"

"No, not like that!" he waved his paws. "Your spiritual energy can be renewed after use as long as you don't overdo things. Now, these... what do you call them here?"

"Fireflies?"

"Yeah, well, those. They were created from contact between a Jewel Seed and a local insect that was infused with dark energy. If my guess is right, that insect has laid eggs that quickly generate more, smaller duplicates of the same monster, infused with the same energy."

Nanoha nodded. "Okay. Then... then we need to find the mom?"

"Yes. Eliminating the source of the original Jewel Seed power, the copies should stop spawning, and probably even collapse altogether. To do that, you must activate the sealing functions of your staff and return the original insect to its natural form."

"How do I do that?"

"Are you sure you really want to do it?" He still warned her. "That will be more dangerous than what you just did."

"Well, I can't turn back after this, can I? My family and friends rely on me, didn't you say it yourself? No time for second thoughts now!"

Yuuno nodded, already feeling impressed by this girl. "Right. Much like you did here, you have to put your mind and heart into what you want to happen. Then the device will assimilate and transmit your intentions to the core, which will accommodate the weapon's functions to your intended goal."

"In Japanese?"

"Just wish it to happen, and the staff will obey you."

"Oh, really?"

"Well, to a reasonable limit, anyway. It's not like you could wish for it to eradicate all wars forever or anything like that."

Nanoha looked downright adorable disappointed.

"Errr, you could still try to stomp one war at a time, though," he said.

She brightened. "That's better!" Dear God, she actually sounded SERIOUS! "Her name's Raising Heart, by the way!"

"'Her'?"

"Well, I think she sounds female, don't you? I heard her name in my head when I was transforming!"

"Ah."

"Yuuno-san, if I'm talking to a ferret, then hearing names in my head isn't really any wor—"

"I wasn't criticizing! Really! Well, now, to find the original source, you should try—"

"Maybe I could help with that," a softly tense, politely terse feminine voice interrupted him in turn.

"Ah, Kitami-sensei!" Nanoha exhaled in relief. "You're okay, after all! Thank God!"

The woman advanced towards them in a clearly sour mood, nursing an arm against herself, and covered in bruises and slight burnt marks.

"Don't bring Him into this," Kitami said, as if disgusted by Nanoha's expression. "But we can talk about that later. I've just scanned the area, checking for similar pulses of magical energy, and I think I've found a major one in the immediate vicinity. In a place... I happen to know well."

"Ehhhh?" Nanoha said. "You can do that?!"

"I can do many things! Now just follow me and don't ask any dumb questions!" she said as she stomped around down the street.

Nanoha blinked. "Isn't that the way to your house, though?"

"Of course it is, I'm going there in my car. 'Immediate' vicinity is a relative term, and for all I know maybe you can fly now, but I can't," Kitami bitterly observed before Nanoha nodded and followed her.

* * *

"The good news is since most of the campus is deserted due to all the field trips, there are very few eyewitnesses. The raging fires give us a good excuse to evacuate those remaining students and staff, and we're telling them we suspect the fires are man-made. Some kind of gas leak," Gandolfini grunted, holding his aching arm after a particularly intense pang of pain. "We're wiping the memories of anyone who saw one of the monsters."

"Good, good," Konoemon nodded.

"The bad news is, not only are we still ignorant how those creatures broke through our barriers and if there are more on their way, but we're so short of fighting staff, we're fighting an uphill battle, Sir. We could use Takahata, or even Ririko and Nekonome, but..."

The Dean sighed and stood up from behind his desk. Of course Takamichi couldn't be reached over for help. It had been more than one year since his latest mission, and yet he had never shown again or even called since. "There'll be no need for that, Gandolfini-kun," the old man said serenely. "The students on their trips will get suspicious if several of their teachers are called back, and they need their guidance until they come back. I'll handle the loose ends personally."

"Sir?" the dark skinned teacher was taken aback.

Konoemon smiled. "I suppose I'm still in enough shape to lend a hand every once in a while. Besides, I'll have special extra backup! You don't worry about me, Gandolfini-kun. Just have that arm checked up, and then go back to your post and continue helping your colleagues. You've done well, son. Congratulations."

"Sir, I'm honored," the younger man bowed before retreating quickly.

Once alone, Konoemon's voice grew grim and serious. "Did you hear all of that?" he said.

The man in the shadows at the end of the office nodded, as he stepped out into sight, with the silent skill of a true assassin. It was no wonder Gandolfini had never detected his presence, for the man had excelled at surprising mages and magi to take their lives.

Konoemon sighed again. "If," he cautioned, "I am going to give you my sanctuary, first I need to make sure you are a reliable ally, Emiya Kiritsugu. Tonight, I want you to show me, not only you can claim lives, but save them as well. Prove you are a savior as well as a killer, and then I'll consider taking your side during the years to come."

"Sir," the world-weary Magus Killer answered, sparse and dry. "That's what I've spent my whole life trying to achieve."

* * *

Finally, they arrived to the site where the largest firefly of the whole colony (and we know real fireflies don't travel in colonies or swarms, so don't even point it out) was, which was an old storehouse near the main Academy building. Of course, little was left of the storehouse by now, other than a flaming structure about to fall down. Several dozens of smaller fireflies buzzed in circles around the, for a lack of a better term, queen.

"I'm pretty sure fireflies don't work that way," Nanoha sweatdropped as she, Yuuno and Reika watched safely at a prudent distance.

"Are you two sure you can destroy the lead creature?" Kitami asked. Despite everything, she found that she could feel a measure of joy in seeing that particular warehouse burn to ashes. Painful memories from what had happened there five years ago wouldn't stop flowing into her mind. Maybe the place always had been simply cursed. Or perhaps her own pain and hatred had cursed it. But it didn't matter now.

"Sealing, not destroying it. And it should work fine enough," Yuuno nodded, hoping he looked more confident than he felt. "But we'll need you to destroy the secondary drones around it so Nanoha-san can locate and attack the point where the Jewel Seed is."

"Not a problem," Kitami nodded briefly, preparing more charms and cursing the fact none of her current followers were powerful enough to be of any help there, or else she'd have called them over to act as human shields. Of course, that could change soon. She thought she had just found herself her best minion yet.

"I don't even really know what a Jewel Seed is yet," Nanoha lamented, fanning herself with a hand. The air all around was hella hot.

"Suffice to say for now, it's the thing that changed that insect into a monster, and it must be sealed to finish this off!" Yuuno repeated, waving a paw quickly. "We'll have to get close, and then we'll be able to find the exact spot where the Seed is located! Are you ready?"

Nanoha gulped and braced herself, nodding once. "I am!"

"Kitami-san?" the ferret looked up at the woman.

"Call me Sensei." The would-be nurse took precise aim with both hands, as the swarm began noticing them, sending a few of their ranks against them. "Do it now!"

"Nanoha! As I taught you on our way here!" Yuuno yelled.

"Right!" the girl gripped her staff even harder and shouted, _"Flyer Fin!"_

Instantly, twin pairs of tiny pink wings materialized themselves around her feet, and she shot herself up and ahead while Kitami handled the insects that went after her with unerring accuracy born from need and from steeled nerves. The air felt like a hellish furnace as Nanoha flew closer and closer, occasionally batting a few minor fireflies getting into her way down, but she persevered, and in a few moments, she had made her way right before the towering main monstrosity, which seemed to burn inside, and had sprouted several extra pairs of antennae, legs and wings.

"Where?!" she screamed, to make herself heard over the infernal sounds of all encompassing buzzing.

"Feel it! Try to find it with your mind and heart!" Yuuno shouted back, clutching to her left shoulder. "And then strike right there, without doubting!"

Nanoha inhaled deeply, relaxed her nerves, and tried her best to feel the presence Yuuno had repeatedly told her about. She knew she had to do it quick, despite Kitami-sensei's helpful cover fire, so she put her mind and heart into it, forgetting everything else for the moment.

Then she could feel it in the back of her mind, telling her where it was, and her expression hardened (although very cutely). Nanoha swung Raising Heart forward, and shouted over the maelstrom of the fiery chaos.

_"Raising Heart! Enter Sealing Mode!"_

_**"Sealing Mode. Activated,"**_ the staff spoke as it sprouted wide white wings, deploying a strong field of magic before itself.

Nanoha aimed it at the main monster's midsection. _"Lyrical Magical, Jewel Seed Seal!"_

She still wasn't completely sure exactly what she had just said, but at that point, she was just taking things as they came.

_**"Sealing,"**_ Raising Heart said. _**"Series XXI."**_

It projected several beams that pierced through the being's body, seemingly trying to tug something out of it. It screamed and squirmed, shooting fire at Nanoha she barely managed to avoid. Still, the Jewel Seed would not let go of its host. Already, some of the smaller fireflies were coming at her at the cries of their queen (and yes, we know fireflies don't have queens either!), barely held back by Kitami-sensi. It was only a matter of time before they overran Nanoha.

"GAH!" Yuuno cried. "It's no use! Let it go, Nanoha-chan! We need to get out of here!"

"N-no!" Nanoha gasped, bracing her feet and heaving at Raising Heart like a fisherman trying to pull in The Big One. "I can… do this! I! CAN!"

With a final cry, the queen firefly convulsed as small glowing chunk of rock was literally plucked out into the open. Nanoha breathed deeply, overcome by an awed sense of wonder, watching how the gem slowly floated through the air into her now extended left hand. All around them, what was left of the fireflies began to flutter drunkenly about with horrible shrieks as what was left of the biggest one doubled on itself, seeming to shrink down quickly, extremely fast, until it became a tiny point of light in the night.

Reika made a sound that almost was a sigh of relief.

"You did it!" a radiant Yuuno cheered on Nanoha's ear. "It's a true Jewel Seed! Now you only have to—"

"I know," she nodded vaguely, smiling. "Please, Raising Heart, heal this jewel's furious spirit," she asked, as the staff absorbed the jewel into its core.

_**"Fragment XXI. Assimilated,"**_ the staff's voice said.

Nanoha inhaled, then coughed a bit, since the air still was heavy with smoke. She floated down slowly, landing on her feet before Kitami, and bowing to her. "Thank you so very much, Sensei. Even with my shields, I couldn't defend all my angles and attack at once."

Kitami smiled and bowed back. "You'd have gotten there eventually, I'm sure."

Nanoha petted the ferret's head. "And thank you too, Yuuno-san. I couldn't have done it without your help!"

"W-Well, it was nothing... I must be thankful to you, as well... Sorry to have caused all of this in the first place. It was due to the Jewel Seeds that escaped my grasp and fell to this planet that this chaos was started."

"Oh, really?" Kitami asked curiously. _Did he say planet?_

Nanoha smiled at the staff. "And my heartfelt thanks for you too, Raising Heart-chan!"

The staff tried to look for an adequate answer in its built-in magical data banks, which weren't exactly very well-stocked in the field of interpersonal relationships and communication etiquette. Finally, it supplied a proper pre-set answer. _**"My pleasure. Master."  
**_  
"Now," Kitami said, gently running a hand through Nanoha's hair. "I must congratulate you on your incredible magical potential, Nanoha-chan. Still, a great potential must be matched by a great education. I could help you with that, if you don't mind."

"You can't even fly," Yuuno muttered, looking aside.

Kitami ignored that sly comment for the moment, but took a mental memo to make herself some ferret fur gloves eventually.

"Hm? I'm thankful, really, Sensei, but... Raising Heart-chan said she'd teach me."

"That's great, no problem!" Kitami kept on smiling. "Any great magic user will try to learn as much as they can from as many teachers as they can get. And believe me, I'm sure I can teach about a lot of things Raising Heart... san... couldn't tell you about, much like the opposite is also true."

Nanoha slowly smiled back, and they shared a nod while Yuuno couldn't help but shuddering.

That was the night the infamous White Devil was born.

* * *

Another day, another session of training with the twins.

An exhausted, sweaty Chrono made his way along a corridor of the ship, supporting himself with a hand against the wall. His head hung low, his hair obscuring most of his features. His uniform was slightly ruffled, and he had left the upper button of his pants open. His legs were slightly open as he walked towards his rooms, flinching just a bit with each new step.

_Everything's spinning..._ he thought. _I wonder if I'll ever get used to it?  
_  
"This is all for your sake, Blackie!" they had told him, with huge, sparkling white grins, before pouncing on him as the day's session started in earnest. Sure, right. Earnest from the two of them, anyway; even if Chrono could find and even feel the pleasure his conscious mind refused to admit so much, he'd pretty much prefer skipping the... intimate aspect of those sessions. He wasn't sure Admiral Graham would approve them at all, not to mention-

"Oh, Chrono!" a perfectly sweet, innocent voice made him stop in paralyzed fear. "Back so soon? Or did you start earlier today?"

He turned around stiffly, his face betraying his awkwardness. "Geh! Oh... hey, hello, Amy!"

The young woman with fair skin and short brown hair in a Command Bridge uniform scoffed cutely. "What's with that greeting? Are you unhappy to see me? I didn't catch you skipping training, did I?"

"Oh, no, of course you didn't!" Chrono shook his head frantically. "Sorry, maybe I'm a bit rattled today!"

She gave a small sigh. "Well, yes, I can understand that. But don't worry so much! You're an excellent recruit, no one doubts you'll pass the entrance test with flying honors."

"Well, if you say so," he said as he tried to look aside.

"If I passed my test, you can, too!" she nodded, with an optimism Chrono wished he could share. Then her tone grew more serious. "You still don't believe me, though. Do you?"

"Ahhh... of course I believe you! It's not about you, it's just-"

"There, there, don't start making excuses and just get in there and relax," Amy Limietta gently chided, pushing him the rest of the way to his door. "Just take a good, relaxing hot bath as I fix you something to drink, and we'll talk after that. Won't that be nice?"

"Uh, yes, of course, it will be," he gulped, knowing well she actually wasn't talking about only relaxing, drinking and talking. "Thanks, Amy, this... means a lot to me, actually."

"Don't even mention it," she said while closing the sleek silver metal door behind them with the press of a button on the wall. "You know I'll do anything in my power as long as it helps you, Chrono."

* * *

"Okay, that's it," she sighed a while later, as she sat on the edge of his bed, with her skirt removed so he could get a better, less restrained access to her panty-covered crotch, which he licked all over the thin white fabric, between kisses to her milky thighs. "Yes, yes, that's good. Mmmm." Perhaps, he told himself, she was exaggerating for his sake, since the twins had repeatedly told him that giving oral was his weakest point (other than wide area bombard spamming.) But then again, he doubted she had any experience with anyone but him, so she probably thought that was as good as anyone could get. "Just keep rising like that."

"Amy.," he said as he finally pulled his head back. "Don't you think this is neither the time nor the place for this? If we're found out, your career would be ruined!"

"But I can't possibly leave you like this, can I, Chrono?" She looked down at the boy kneeling between her legs, who only wore a towel around his waist. "I stole your virginity, even if it only was a blowjob, so I have the duty to keep making sure your manly appetites are restrained."

"Um, well, yes, about that." He hesitated, trailing off before deciding that telling her about the twins just yet wouldn't be a good idea at all. "Look, I appreciate your good intentions, but I'm sure I can take care of, ahem, these things myself."

"But I can't," she moaned, gesturing towards the thin strands of liquid leaking out and through her panties. "Look at what you do to me, Chrono. I can't stop thinking about you, and as my future commanding officer, you have as much of duty to guide me as I have to help you... right?"

"The regulation books don't say anything on this subject," Chrono grumbled, making her giggle.

"The job is very stressful, and I don't have a helpful hobby like your mother," she teased, playing with his hair.

"Captain. We are to call her Captain," he strictly reminded her.

"Only on labor hours," she countered, standing up and pushing the panties aside, revealing her wet pinkness. "Right now, this is your only work, Chrono. And I'm your boss. So shut up and enforce, enforcer." (The joke made more sense in their language.)

"Yes, Ma'am," he said, placing his tongue on the folds and beginning to lick.

"Hmmm, you've gotten so much better, so soon," Amy purred, bracing herself against the bed.

Chrono briefly sweatdropped, then just nodded non-committally, deciding to distract her from the implications of that train of thought as quickly as possible. "Hah!" she panted, while he redoubled her efforts. "Ah... Chrono... Right there... is so good!"

Taking another page from his trainers' book, the boy slicked a finger with his saliva and then teased Amy's anus with it as he went back to lick her front. After a few moments of hearing her stuttering incoherently, he pushed the finger in while lightly nibbling on the clitoris, and that made her arch and rattle in release. "AH! CHRONO!"

He pulled back again as she lay on his bed, flushed face up, blocking her own eyes with a forearm. "Chrono, naughty boy... you've got stop watching dirty holo movies!"

"Sorry," he sheepishly said, taking a moment to wipe his finger on the towel. "Amy, if you want to keep this up, then... when can I, you know... stick 'that' in?"

"No way. Not until you're promoted, at the very least. Ideally, after we're married or you're of legal age," she chided. "We can't handle a child yet, and your mother would get angry."

"Married?!" the boy gulped. "Um, and about children, you know there are methods to-"

"Yes, I know, but I want my first time with you to be as the gods intended it. Also, why so shocked about the idea of marriage? I thought we had an agreement!"

"Um, yeah, of course," he admitted, being well aware he had let it escalate after failing to shoot Amy's first few hints down, because he didn't want to hurt her feelings, not because he found her more attractive than anyone else, no. "But, maybe you deserve someone better, so don't you think it's a little too-"

"Chrono!" she said. "You know I'd never do this with you if we weren't going to marry! What kind of woman do you take me for?!"

"Sorry, I didn't want to imply anything!" he shrunk back, knowing he couldn't ever win this kind of fight with women.

Amy pouted. "Men! You're unsure of my seriousness until I give you more proof, aren't you? Well, then let's make a compromise. You can rub it all over my panties, but that's all for now, okay?"

"While you're wearing them?"

"Of course, but if you know, I can lend you a pair so you can-"

"Thaaaaanks, but that won't be necessary. The laundry man can be very nosy, you know."

She nodded. "Oh, do I." She put her underwear back, then spread her legs further. "Well, let's do it, then."

Chrono sighed, placed his hard, throbbing unit on top of Amy's panties, and felt her warmth right under them. He grew stiffer, and in no time began rubbing quickly all over the fabric. At several points, Amy was actually afraid the friction might rip them apart and he might accidentally (or not) penetrate her, but the space-age garments held with flying honors, and when he ejaculated with a scream of "I can't hold on!", it was all over her crotch and lower belly, rather than inside of her.

Not that she wasn't waiting for the day when the later could actually happen, of course, as she mused to herself as she hungrily kissed him. But alas, all good things must eventually come to an end. "I must go now," she said, primly wiping his saliva from her lips as she stood. "See you tomorrow, Chrono."

"Ah-hah, sure thing," he weakly waved as she blew a kiss at him and then left his rooms. Chrono turned around and plummeted back on the bed, covering his eyes with both hands.

_Marriage?! REALLY?!_

* * *

"Ladies, gentleman," Kitami opened the meeting in a far friendlier and lighter fashion that was her custom. "Allow me to introduce you to Takamachi Nanoha-chan, our newest member."

A complete silence reigned all around the sole table in the small room, which did look 'occult', but hardly 'satanic', as long as one didn't look behind the hidden door, at least. After graduating from high school, all the while being very grateful to still be alive, Shindou Saki had rented a few rooms in the Hinata Inn on the other end of town. Kitami had instructed her to lend one of those rooms for the Rose Cross' new headquarters, until things calmed down in Mahora enough to move the society back to its vicinity, and Konoemon lowered his guard to a degree Reika would find acceptable. The inn's nominal owner, while very sharp for her age, spent most of her time traveling, leaving her young granddaughter in charge for months at a time, so Saki usually found little opposition to bringing her alleged circle of friends to the old, dilapidated house, as the few other tenants mostly minded their own business with little regard for Saki's own. Even so, Kitami kept excellent wards around the room at all times, so privacy was rarely much of an issue.

Reika suddenly bringing a child of all things in sure seemed an actual issue, though. Even Nami, who had been reduced to Kitami's broken toy as soon as they stepped out of public sight, didn't seem convinced. "R-Reika-sama? Are you, are you sure -?"

"Don't be silly, Nami-chan, of course I am!" said Reika, all sunshine and smiles. "Otherwise, I wouldn't even be doing this, would I? Do I look like the kind of person who takes action without first analyzing a given situation?"

Nami shrunk back, looking at her own feet. "Of course you don't, Reika-sama."

It was true, for, over the last few weeks, Kitami had been studying Nanoha carefully, before inviting her to join her society. She had witnessed the child defeating a gigantic mutated tree before Konoemon's men could arrive to the site of that incident, and that had convinced the woman the gifted youngster had the raw firepower and offensive potential to give a boost to the sorely lacking ranks of her group.

Now, while Kozono cowered in weak-willed acceptance, Hiratani trembled with the attitude of a man both tempted and terrified at once, Saki studied the newcomer with a curious air of puzzlement, and Junko had the reaction the closest to alleged normalcy, just gaping in disbelief at the new bold step taken by the leader. She still didn't dare to speak against Kitami, however, most especially not after seeing firsthand what Reika had done to the thugs who had deflowered her, and helping her to dispose of the evidence.

"You'll sit between Nami-chan and Junko-chan, dear," Kitami gently said, guiding Nanoha to one of the chairs just waiting for a new recruit. "Later, Saki-chan will start teaching you tarot reading and other means of predicting the future."

"Yeah, well, I don't mind that," Saki, still the boldest member after the leader, placed a hand on her own chin, "but what's she supposed to do here... with us, I mean?" she asked, rather dubiously. "You don't mean -"

"Why, she'll help us to defend the security of the city, of course," Kitami easily replied. "What else?"

"You mean its security for -"

"For the greater good of our noble cause, which demands that everyone must be safe from any and all outside threats to our beloved community, naturally," Reika said, with an unflappable pious attitude. The small animal perched on Nanoha's shoulder wrinkled his small nose at that, but said nothing.

"Right, just wanted to know, since technically what you're saying sounds like child endangerment, and I don't think-"

"Nanoha-chan is rather able to look after herself, and I can safely say she's strongest than the whole of you put together," Reika said, sitting at the head of the table. "Nanoha-chan, in the event you ever can't contact me for some reason or another, I want you to resort to Hiratani-kun, Saki-chan, Junko-chan and Nami-chan until I'm available. Also, please be patient with them, as they are nowhere as fast to learn as you are."

"Okay, I'll be glad to!" Nanoha nodded happily, quite glad of how much Sensei had softened ever since that night she learned she was a magic user. That probably had everything to do with the stress of being found out, but ever since, Sensei had taught her a lot about how to control and gauge her own inside power, which was a great help with the added education she got both from Yuuno-kun and Raising Heart. Once again, she was the same helpful, patient Sensei who worked at the infirmary, easing others' pain. "Please, don't pull any punches in my education! I'll be honored to learn from you, and I hope I can repay you just the same someday!" she added, bowing for the others.

"Such a nice, excellent girl," Kitami nodded in appreciation, reaching over to gently pat one of Nanoha's cheeks.

They only had to wait a little more, to properly gauge her and the risks and possibilities she entailed before fully initiating her. She wouldn't make the same mistakes Nami made when it came to her. She would be patient and wise.

She wouldn't break Nanoha's spirit. She would add it to her own instead.

* * *

It happened that, the next week, fairly late after classes, on a certain Friday Nanoha would never forget, Kitami-sensei heard a ring at her door, and when she opened it, a badly hurt Nanoha plummeted to her feet.

"Sensei, you've got to help her!" Yuuno, who had a few bruises himself, jumped up and down, appealing to Kitami like never before. "It was terrible, Nanoha was attacked, and, and-!"

"I can't... show up at home like this, Sensei... Can you help me...?" the girl asked before falling unconscious.

She woke up covered by blankets up to her neck, but obviously naked under them, on Kitami-sensei's soft, very comfortable bed, with bandages around her arms and legs. Kitami sat by her bedside, smoking a cigarette, while a concerned Yuuno sat on the woman's lap, looking intently at Nanoha's face. "Thank the gods, Nanoha, you are okay," the ferret sighed, expressing a great relief.

Nanoha pulled an arm that wrapped almost as much as a mummy's from under the blankets. "I can't show up like this either, they'll ask questions!"

"Hush," Kitami told her, putting the cigarette off on an ashtray on top of the nightdesk. "They are containing the healing magic in place, and once it takes full effect, I'll take them off. But only then."

"How long will that take?" Nanoha groaned.

"At least until tomorrow morning. Healing magic isn't my strongest point." Reika fished out for another cigarette. "Look, don't worry about your parents. I called Tsukimura-san and convinced her to cover for you. When they ask you tomorrow, you'll only have to confirm you spent the night with her, because you got distracted and stayed too late... Have you ever done something like that before?"

"Uh, no."

"Well, you have now," the woman told her.

"How did you get Suzuka-chan to do that? She's never been one to lie."

"I have my ways," Reika shrugged. "Now, Yuuno-san here told me it wasn't a Jewel Seed who did this to you, but another magic user."

"Around the same age as me, yeah," Nanoha nodded. "But, her eyes were so sad," she dreamily added.

Yuuno scoffed. "I think Sensei would like her, from the way she dresses."

"How so?" asked Reika.

"So large, so melancholic," Nanoha mused. "She wouldn't speak much, either. Even when I asked for her name."

"Fate. She said her name was Fate, I heard that much," Yuuno then asked Kitami. "That ring any bells?"

"None at all," Kitami admitted. "Now, I ask again, why would I like her?"

"Well, she dresses... too skimpily for her age!" Yuuno replied. "Black leather, and a skirt that couldn't be called a skirt, over a leotard!"

"And you, naturally, checked her out," Kitami chuckled, poking his nose with a sharp nail.

Yuuno pulled back, blushing under the fun. "D-Don't joke with me, right now! She was after the Jewel Seed as well, and worse, she took it, to boot!"

"It was a very, very big kitten," Nanoha mused sleepily, her eyes on the ceiling. "But as soon as the Jewel Seed was out, he shrank back, and he was going to fall from a great height - " She yawned, then continued. "- because he had sprouted wings and was flying, see? But that girl, she caught him, and lowered him so gently, and it was my fault, really, I jumped the gun with her. It's not like the Jewel Seeds are mine."

"Well, it's not like we can trust them to anyone!" an exasperated Yuuno said. "Who know what is she going to do with it, but at the same time, I don't feel safe sending Nanoha against her again."

"Don't look at me, the damn jewel just won't accept me as its master," Reika shrugged, taking a disdainful look at the red gem next to the ashtray.

_**"User. Not Authorized. Clearance. Impossible. Access. Denied,"**_ Raising Heart said, just like every time Reika had tried or suggested using it.

Nanoha moaned. "No, it's okay. She caught me with my guard low today, but I already know how she fights, so next time I'll stop her long enough to get a conversation." She smacked her lips together. "You just wait, Yuuno-kun, Kitami-sensei. I won't disappoint... you..." she mumbled before falling asleep again.

Kitami and the ferret watched her in silence before Reika put out her new cigarette as well. "She's a fighter, no one can deny that. But she needs an edge. She won't get ahead on fighting spirit alone."

"And what do you suggest?" Yuuno asked distrustfully.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'll think of something. There's no unbeatable enemy, as long as you apply the correct strategy."

Of course, even if she couldn't get Nanoha to win, she always could just take this stronger, apparently less repressed girl under her wing instead.

Black leather? When the ferret was right, he was right. That _did_ sound like her type of girl.

* * *

He woke up behind his desk, at his new office, and it took him a couple moments to actually realize where he was. His own office. Given to him immediately after -

He pulled the new, shiny ensign out of his first drawer, staring at it in silence. Finally, it was his, after studying and training over years. The culmination of the first stage of his life dreams. At last, after all he'd done, after all his achievements, after all the allegedly mature encounters he'd had with three older, educated women, that small token of public recognition made him feel like a man.

Chrono rarely smiled, much less whenever he found himself alone, but he smiled now. Catching a faint reflection of his face on the shiny surface, he didn't see the face of a child anymore. For a brief while, at least, he could pause to congratulate himself for a job well done, before moving on to embrace the next set of challenges waiting for him.

"Whew..." he exhaled, finally feeling well rested and vital again, as he pushed the ensign back into the drawer.

And then got a good view of someone he hadn't seen there a moment before. But then, a little known talent demanded of high ranked officers in the TSAB is stealth.

"Congratulations, Chrono," Lindy Harlaown tenderly told her son, kneeling between his slightly open legs, with her chin almost resting on his crotch. She was a beautiful woman, possessed of a mature, dignified stature and presence, even while naked and on her knees...

_Wait, WHAT?!_ Chrono's brain screamed, startling the boy out of his mildly absent-minded appreciation of his mother's physical gifts. He'd always told himself there was nothing wrong with admiring his Superior Official like that, as long as he thought of her as a Superior Official first, then as a mother, then as a woman; and as long as he didn't cross any borders the protocols established for the first two instances we have just listed. But now, his own Superior Official-mother-rather exotic and well built beauty of a woman had just, in a single surprise strike, dismantled his carefully laid set of self-imposed limits by showing up, by surprise, fully nude and smelling of liquor in the middle of the ship's programmed nocturnal hours, and what was a newly minted officer supposed to do in such situations?

"I, I'm sorry over falling asleep in the line of duty!" Chrono pushed his chair back, making sure the sudden movement of his legs didn't accidentally kick his Superior Official-mother-oh Gods she really was without a single stitch of clothing, now that a mild distance allowed him a better view. "I swear this won't repeat itself, now please put on something, in the name of all that is the Bureau, Captain!"

She laughed lightly. "Oh, Chrono! Even though you're a working officer now, you still have a lot to learn. And most of the job isn't taught at the Academy."

His eyebrows took a very interesting shape. "What, what what does this have to do with the functions of a Bureau Officer?"

"Well," she said, reaching over to gently pat him on a thigh. "In your career, you'll run into many, many women... and men... who will try seducing a young, handsome and well connected officer for their own goals. To counter them, you must learn how to turn those tools of psychological domination back on them."

He gulped. "Ma'am! The standard protocol for such situations involves reporting the offending party to one's superiors, Ma'am!"

"Oh?" Her smirk became absolutely impish and playful. "So now you're going to file a report on this?"

"Um, no, of course not, because I, because you, because...!"

"Because I'm your mother?"

"Because I'm sure, as you've just implied, you are doing this only to test me, Ma'am! Rest assured I have learned my lesson and thank you profusely over-!"

"Come here," she said, pulling the chair back to the desk. "Don't be that formal to your own mother, after duty hours, too."

"A Bureau officer's duty hours are never over, they only-"

"You know what I mean," she said, taking a hold of his pants' zipper. "Now, you'll walk the same path as your father, which is why I'll reward you the same way I rewarded him. I'll teach you what I taught him," she added, pulling the fly down, much to his horror. "Don't squirm. This, too, is part of becoming an adult."

"B-But no!" he cried. "I can't allow this, it's completely wrong, even if you are my mother, you aren't in your right mind at the time, and I've got to ask you to-"

She held his hands down before he could zip the pants back up. "No," she told him. "I'm not doing this under the influence. Okay, maybe I drank a bit to make it easier for me, but... I decided this long ago, and I'm not going to let you change my mind. I love you, Chrono, just like I loved Clyde. And I know you are experienced, so don't act as if I'm taking your virginity. You know I hate being lied to."

"You knew about-?!"

"About the twins and Amy? Of course, this is my ship after all," she purred, working his pants down to his knees. "Don't worry, the rest of the crew is still unaware, and I'm not telling anyone about it, much like I'm not telling them about this," she said, blowing soft puffs on his male unit before taking it into her saliva-coated mouth, starting to suck him off in a slow, studied rhythm.

Chrono hissed and took his head back, since the sensation he was just experiencing now was even more powerful than those from the twins and Amy's oral ministrations. While the former could be too rough and the later too soft, Lindy's mouthjob hit a perfect middle point, where her mouth, teeth and tongue were tender and loving without lacking any passion and vitality. Against his better judgment, he became painfully hard very quickly.

"M-Mom!" he gasped hard.

Lindy's heart flew, surrounded by pastel bubbles. After years, he had finally used that word on her again! That person had been right, this way, she could connect with him far better than through any other means. And hopefully, that meant she wouldn't lose him, not like-

Thinking of him made it even easier, but what fascinated and vaguely horrified Lindy at equal parts was it wasn't even necessary. Hearing Chrono's muted, nonstop sounds of "Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!" was actually fairly exciting in its own right, and soon, Lindy sneaked a hand between her legs to caress herself while the other massaged Chrono's buttocks. Her hand speed went higher as well as the pitch of his gasps, and before long she was hearing the expected cries. "Mom! Mom! I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm really-!"

The green haired woman took him as deeply as he could get into her throat, and then enjoyed two volleys of his release before gagging and being forced to pull back, swallowing for air and seed as the third and fourth shots splattered on the fine carpet. After regaining her full breath, she smiled at him again, licking her lips slowly. "That was so good, my dear. Wasn't it good for you, too?"

His face was red, and his eyes almost tearful. "Yes... Yes! Y-Yes, but... I don't think..."

She rose, silencing him with a full view of her buxom physique _au naturel_ from such close quarters. Her large yet firm breasts were at the same level as his face now. "You taste even better than your father did, but I'm not satisfied yet, and I don't think you are, either. I know you've wanted me for a long time, and that's okay, that's a natural part of growing up. However, I don't think we should let this end before taking it all the way. We are different from most people. We are special. Do you want me to show you how special you are, Chrono?"

He nodded before even realizing what he was doing. She was right in something, things, once you overtook them, were always meant to be taken to their ultimate consequences. And he knew she was special, his father was special, and he'd devoted his life to be special as well. Was this a necessary part of that process? One way or another, he had to find it out.

"Take your clothes off. I want to give you a good physical test," his mother told him.

Chrono nodded in silence again before pulling the jacket off his body. After stripping himself completely naked, he rested on his back, on the floor, as Lindy slowly crawled on top of him until her gaze met his. Then she just took a long, poignant pause, and Chrono honestly thought she was going to back away from it all. Her face, which had been marked by a happy drunken haze moments ago, now betrayed signs of an uncertainty bordering on regret. He could only guess what was passing through her mind at the moment, although in all truth, he reasoned his guess just had to be correct. After all, he was feeling pretty much the same way, himself.

Then she steeled herself, with a long exhalation, grabbing his hard member and guiding her towards the small slit between her legs, under the sparse greenish bush. "Chrono," she told him, "please forgive me for being a terrible mother."

"Ah, no, it's me who should apologize, after all, I'm a man who is-"

"That is seeeeeexiiiiiiist," his mother chimed as she lowered herself gradually, changing his moan of objection for one of reluctant pleasure while her fleshy folds enveloped him, all but sucking him in. "You aren't a man taking advantage of a woman, you're a son and recruit being taken advantage by a mother aaaaaaand," she gasped as he just wouldn't stop going in deeper, over her initial expectations. "And, and, and," she curled her toes, trying to keep some control, "and I'm your commanding officer too, so if anything happens, I'll take all the blame and, but don't think about that now, gods, Chrono!" she rasped, letting her tongue roll out.

"Mom," he closed his eyes, trying to think of Amy but only thinking of her, clawing at the floor hard enough to leave slight marks, because shut up, he's not actually human like us even if they look the part that's why.

"Just look at how hard you've gotten inside of your mother. Here," she crooned, taking two fingers to the root of his penis and lightly squeezing it. "How does it feel, Chrono? To drill the pussy from which you were born with your dick!"

Seeing him enjoy it, even if he tried to deny it, was washing her own shame, disgust and regret away. Her recent ally of convenience had been right after all, there was a whole new level of enjoyment to this. A warmth that Lindy hadn't felt ever since losing Clyde. She grew wetter, easing the stay of the hard member in her vulva, and allowing her to finally thrust her hips on top of him, so he moved within him.

"M-mom!" he cried, his heart thumping faster than it ever went with Lotte and Aria. "Mom, not so fast, not that hard, cut it out..."

It was too late for that now, as Lindy arched her back and licked her lips, getting into the spirit of the procedure as her ally had suggested. "Mmmm... This feeling of forbidden immorality... I can't even remember the last time I had so much fun... Fu, fu, fu..."

"Mom, that's so naughty, you shouldn't say that," he said, unconsciously clenching at her meaty buttocks as she bounced on him.

"Of course I'm being naughty, and so are you!" she said, speeding her pace up. "Now... thrust it in harder, Chrono! Mmnnn! Aahhhhh! Keep fucking your mother!"

"Ha! Fu! Okay!" he obeyed, beginning to thrust up, and trusting she'd let him pull out before his climax. Aria and Lotte had long made it clear they were using protection, and he doubted their genetic makeups were compatible enough in the first place, so that never had been a concern with them. It had been a bit disturbing that they'd be so familiar with the concept of 'protection' before taking him in, but he decided he wasn't in a position where he could judge Admiral Graham, his first and foremost suspect. Besides, he really didn't want to dwell into the implications of what the catgirls had said about his father in passing.

"Ahh! Mmnn!" Lindy bucked on top of him. "Ahhh! Chrono, when in the world did this happen?! You never were only a child, were you?! That you'd grow up so fast, right under my eyes, and I never could tell when you stopped being a... and became a... oh that's it, that's it! Thrust harder!"

"Mom!" he cried. "I'm about to, get off, I can't, I can't hold anymore!"

She fingered herself rapidly, trying to set herself for an orgasm in combination with his own. "Never mind about that! Cum inside, Chrono!"

"But, but, but that's insane, I can't, what if -!"

"Just trust me, Chrono! Do what you father did, where your father did!" she commanded. "Now cum! Cum! NOW!"

And with a long drawn scream, he pushed against her and flooded her to the womb with sperm. He collapsed gradually into a series of long, full body tremors, and she half-dazedly finished herself by stroking her clitoris into a release of her own. She rested on him and tenderly kissed his cheeks and lips. "My baby," she purred.

He all but sobbed, sitting up as soon as she allowed him to. "I had sex with my mom... I had sex with my mom and Captain..."

"And what a wonderful sex it was," she hummed, nuzzling her against her breasts. "Chrono, please, don't cry. That's so unbecoming a brave officer, and a son who's just made his unworthy mother proud. If anything, I'm the one who should be crying..." she sniffled, "... if only because of how happy you've made me, despite of how little I could do for you."

"Even so, Mother, I never wanted to make you cry." He sadly looked at her tear-stricken face.

"I know." She pecked his lips again. "But you've brought me happiness above all other things. And in turn, from now on, I'll make you happy. That, I swear. Will you let me, Chrono?"

After several moments of silence, he nodded, and they hugged again.

* * *

Several minutes later, Lindy returned to her living quarters, took a bath, toweled herself dry, put on a loose robe, watered her bonsai, and set some tea to brew. As she waited, she opened her secret, clandestine communication link.

"Done?" the woman at the other end of the audiovisual line asked her.

Lindy smiled and nodded. "You were right. I feel... so much more liberated now. I have to wonder, now, why aren't you happier yourself?"

"Because you have just reached the one who replaced your lost love. But for me, there's no replacement for my lost love. Until I have her back, I won't be able to experience what you just did."

"Hmmmm. You know, I just received the first readings of your activity in this sector. You'd better proceed quickly. No matter if it's an Unadministered World, they'll still want me to look on it shortly. I can't keep this a secret for long."

"I shouldn't take long," the woman with dark hair coldly said. "Two weeks. According to my calculations, that's as long as you'll have to cover for me. After that, if I'm not done yet, send a random enforcer, stall for time, stage something. Improvise."

"I don't believe on improvising. But then, that's why I already have a contingency plan for this, so don't worry. I just thought you should be warned, regardless."

Precia Testarossa never had any real use for warnings, even before losing everything, but she still gave a token nod of gratitude.

With or without Captain Harlaown, the Project would go on regardless.

* * *

"Okay," Kitami-sensei said the next evening Nanoha showed up at her doorstep, less bruised than the last time but still fairly beaten up. "What happened this time?"

"It was that magical girl and her nasty, cruel familiar again!" Scrya said. "This time, she and Nanoha fought to a near stalemate! It was a very hard battle over the Jewel Seed, and we nearly had it, too! But then, the Jewel Seed began reacting when they closed in on it at once, reaching an unstable phase, and it nearly exploded!"

"So I let her take it!" Nanoha said. "But I got to learn her full name! She's called Fate Testarossa!"

"... that doesn't tell me anything," Reika said, rolling one of Nanoha's sleeves up and studying her bruised arm intently. "You've grown sloppy and careless, Nanoha. If you don't start taking this seriously, I'll have to stop supporting you."

"Eeeeehhhh?!" the girl said. "But, but, Sensei!"

Reika shook her head, setting Nanoha's arm aside. "If you keep throwing fights and treating this as a game, you'll just get yourself killed, and you'll have no one to blame but yourself. I'm not getting behind someone who half-does things. You haven't been playing to win since that 'Fate' person appeared."

"But Nanoha really does her best!" the annoying ferret protested. "She's been improving a lot, and she keeps working really hard no matter what! You can't ask her to exert herself harder than this!"

"No, I think she can," Nanoha said, "Kitami-sensei is right, I'm slacking, and I should have more of Fate-chan's drive, and-!"

"'Fate-chan'?" Reika dubiously said, before shaking her head again. "No, actually, Nanoha, Yuuno-kun is right about one thing, at least; your body's been straining itself too much of late, and if you push yourself that much harder, you'll end up hurting yourself. And what will any of us get from that, I ask you?"

"Are you sure?" Nanoha said. "But you just said I should take this more seriously."

"And that doesn't always involve mindlessly abusing your own body." _Not when I can do that for you_. "There are other, safer ways. The straight road is never the only one, and rarely is the best one."

Yuuno narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What you mean is-"

"There are always ways around a given problem," Reika replied. "Alternate solutions. It seems this person is more powerful and experienced at fighting than Nanoha, so it'd take too long for Nanoha to catch up to her through mere training and combat trials. And in the meanwhile, this person would clearly achieve her goals long before we do."

"Before Nanoha does, you mean," Yuuno grumbled. "Are you saying she should cheat?"

"I was unaware you had elaborate rules for this sort of situation. Is some kind of 'honor code' involved?" Reika dryly asked him.

The ferret shifted in place, clearly uncomfortable. "Hm, not exactly, and I agree the situation demands for out-of-the-box thinking, it's just-" _I don't trust you at all! If only it could be anyone else!  
_  
"Are you two sure it's that important to beat her up to it?" Nanoha asked. "What if she gathers the Jewel Seeds before I do? She doesn't look like a bad person! Her purposes should be good!"

"If she had noble goals, she would tell you about them!" Yuuno protested.

"I'll get her to talk next time!"

"And she wouldn't dress in skimpy black leather!"

"So does Kitami-sensei, and she isn't evil either!"

Kitami successfully suppressed a brief full-body twitch.

Yuuno fumed before tossing his paws up. "Ohhhh, I give it up! What is your plan then, Sensei? Let's hear it already!"

"I'll tell you when it's good and ready," the woman answered. "In the meanwhile, I want you to go to Nanoha's house and keep an eye on her family tonight. The second time around, they are far less likely to fully believe our excuses, and soon they'll suspect enough as to become a problem."

"That's kind of a mean thing to say, Sensei," Nanoha observed. "Do I have to stay the whole night here again? But this time I'm barely hurt!"

"Not in the outside, but you still have sustained severe internal damage," the nurse told her before staring at Yuuno. "Well? Get moving, then. Speed is of the essence."

Yuuno only frowned at her, but then Nanoha gestured at him to obey, and, with a hiss of frustration, he walked back out through the cat door.

Kitami waited a few moments after he was gone to look back at Nanoha and say, "This is a matter that can only be settled between girls, so I had to send him away. Nanoha-chan, follow me to the bathroom. I'm going to give you something that will greatly help you in the future... but only if you prove to be strong enough to truly deserve it."

The girl blinked. "Eeeehhhh?!"

* * *

Kitami still didn't know enough about Scrya to feel comfortable directly involving him in her plans. She suspected he'd have to be dealt with rather than inducted, since his ideals seemed too rigid and unwavering, and influencing him might well take more effort than he was worth. On the other hand, she suspected he hadn't shown even half of his true power yet. Perhaps he would as soon as he collected all of the Jewel Seeds, which would explain his marked interest in them. (That he just wouldn't want them to wreck havoc on innocents was something Reika was able to understand, and she felt he *was* that sort of self-righteous charlatan like that, but by now she was having problems accepting actual heroism as anyone's motivation. If she had to hazard a guess, she'd guess he was just a hypocrite deluding himself about his true motivations.)

Taking all of that into account, she didn't feel like crossing Yuuno just yet. It was obvious, however, the girl and he had already developed a strong mutual liking, and openly moving against either would send the other against her. So she had to move fast on the most naive and gullible half of the equation, before she grew wise and jaded enough, yet as deluded about the nature of the world as the animal. If she managed to seduce Nanoha behind Scrya's back, Nanoha herself would either recruit him or destroy him herself, once she was loyal enough to Kitami's true cause. But it was important to start early, while she was impressionable and malleable.

So far, so good. Nanoha had followed her into the bathroom without protest, evidently curious about what was going to happen, and just watched intently while Kitami set several candles around the bathtub, lit them up, prayed several times at four different spots marking the four directions, and then filled the tub with a combination of warm water and several herbal solutions she had around the bathroom, in colorful bottles with labels written in foreign languages Nanoha didn't understand. Once that was done, Kitami-sensei stripped down to the barest essentials, even taking her earrings off and placing them neatly on the floor, far from the tub. She turned back to Nanoha and told her, "Do as I just did."

"Ah ... y-yes!" she nodded, quickly getting naked, and then eagerly standing before the blonde, waiting for her next instruction. Apparently unsatisfied yet, Reika reached for Nanoha's pigtails and undid them, caressing her long, silky, reddish unbound hair.

"For our bodies to reach a full communion and synchronization," the adult instructed, "there must be nothing on or between us. That way, our souls and physical selves will resonate better with each other. Are you afraid?"

Nanoha shook her head.

Reika placed her hands on her small shoulders. "What you are about to experience will scare you. You may have heard warnings against it. But I'm sure you always heard warnings against placing yourself in deadly danger, and yet that didn't stop you from helping Yuuno. You have decided taking the path of a magical warrior, and magical warriors must lose their innocence early. I will give you something better than that. I will give you a power that will be only yours, to define you, to make you a woman. Just like it happened to me, not that long ago. Look into my eyes, Nanoha. Are you willing to become like me?"

Nanoha nodded as her eyes never took apart from Reika's, and for a moment, the woman felt something she hadn't felt through the whole last five years, something that she guessed had to be a faint shadow of what she once knew to be regret. But there was no place for regrets in her life, anymore. She smiled down at her disciple.

"Brave child," she congratulated her, with a warmth that, perhaps, had some deeply rooted sincerity to it, even if it was a warmth born from hellfire. Slowly, she guided Nanoha into the bathtub with herself, taking her by the hands, and making her sit in the water, both facing each other. Her hands went up to cup Nanoha's cheeks, and even more slowly, taking good care as to not scare her away, for she had no thugs at hand to keep her held, and she wasn't going to commit Nami's foolish mistakes, Reika's face moved, inch by inch, closer and closer, towards Nanoha's...

"You want a kiss, right?" Nanoha guessed, and then she closed her eyes and pushed her mouth against a surprised Kitami's.

Children nowadays.

"Yes. That is. Good girl, good girl," Reika huskily cooed, as her hands slowly moved down Nanoha's body, feeling carefully, touching the precise spots without overdoing it. Yet. Her fingers were working their magic by sculpting the future with precision, rather than violently jackhammering like had been done to her. Seducing, not brutalizing. Hers was a finer sort of corruption and rape - or at least, she told herself so, as the worst sinners are prone to do.

"Nnnn, Sensei," Nanoha flinched as the hands reached her behind, and there came that moment Reika had prepared herself for, the one where her prey's self-preservation instincts would kick in. It was a moment where being too blunt and being too soft would both lead her to failure.

"Nanoha." She kissed her test subject's neck, keeping her in place in a manner almost motherly. "Be brave. I'm here. It won't hurt any more than what that girl did to you."

Nanoha's mind was instantly visited by the lovely vision of that girl with the deeply sad eyes.

That made it much easier.

She relaxed into Sensei's arms as she was kissed and fondled, and thought of Fate-chan.

* * *

It was truly remarkable, Reika thought later, as they sat side-by-side and naked on the wet floor, how energetic Nanoha was. She had soldiered through everything with almost fearsome drive and determination, even enduring through things that had made Junko, Saki, Hiratani and Kozono (especially Kozono) cry without a single protest. She had found her White Devil indeed.

She had taken the oral sex, and then proved again how much of a fast learner she was when she was instructed to return the favor. She had also been a natural at tribadism, despite the difference in sizes, and even when Reika had shown her the transformation of her clitoris, she had reacted with awe and intrigue rather than the panic Reika had expected. She even asked if she could do it as well eventually, and she didn't even cry that much at penetration. It had been... almost disappointing, since there had been little fear to enjoy and exploit. If there was a weapon, anywhere in the universe, that worked on willpower and the absence of fear, Nanoha could surely master it easily.

Reika only hoped she wouldn't ever get too good, too strong, unless she always remained just as loyal and obedient. But until now, everything had gone perfectly, much better than Kitami had dared to hope. (Hope was, after all, something else she had left behind for the most part.) They had done it in the tub and out of it, repeatedly and without tiring her, despite her bruises. As a matter of fact, as part of the ritual, the bruises had healed through their prolonged union, even faster than Kitami had predicted. And now, she could feel the new pulse of energy within the small body sitting next to hers, and judging from how Nanoha looked at her own hands, she surely felt it too. Kitami wrapped an arm around her shoulders and enjoyed the close contact with that much power.

"And now, with this," Nanoha wondered, "I can defeat Fate-chan?"

"I bet you could," Reika smirked, playing with the reddish hair.

"And I'll get her to talk to me!" Nanoha smiled, squeezing a fist.

Reika kissed her scalp. "Talk, cry, scream, beg..."

"Why would I want to make her beg? Beg for what?" Nanoha gave her a curious look.

Kitami sighed. Well, she couldn't be expected to learn everything in a single night, after all. "It was... a figure of speech. Just remember, this will have to remain yet another secret, at least for the time being. Even from Yuuno-kun."

"But why? He's also a magic user!"

"He's also a boy."

"Ferret."

"Boy ferret," Reika conceded.

"Okay," Nanoha said. "But does that mean boys can't do these kind of things? I thought the thing you grew was one all boys are supposed to have."

"Boys can do these things with girls, obviously, and they do it all the time. But animal boys aren't supposed to do it with people!" Reika said, just this short of actually losing her patience already. Bestiality continued to be pretty much her only remaining taboo. Poor Poppy-chan's shadow was a long one, after all.

"Oh, that makes sense, I guess. So, Sensei."

"Yes?"

"Can we do this again?"

"Of course, we will do it regularly, since after all-"

"Ummmm... I mean, do it again, right now?" she shyly corrected her, twiddling her fingers together.

Reika blinked. Perhaps, just perhaps, she had created a monster who someday would devour her.

_No, what a stupid thought_, she decided as she pulled Nanoha into another wild kiss.

* * *

Next time she and Fate battled, Nanoha was much stronger and faster, surprising Yuuno and making him more than a bit worried. Especially since that sudden increase in competence and power came with a much more feral and aggressive behavior in combat, going from the start to press the attack on Fate, rather than playing on the defensive a third time around. Yuuno wanted to believe it was due to a combination of Nanoha's accumulated training under him and her finally taking Fate's threat seriously, but he still couldn't help feeling he was fooling himself. Already, he could suspect the person behind Nanoha-chan's unexpected change in tactics and might, even if not her methods.

All the same, after Nanoha's victory, he would have a very serious and long-delayed final conversation with Kitami-san...

It turned out, however, that victory and the ensuing talk would have to wait. After taking the fight into the coastline, Nanoha finally got a decisive upper hand on Fate, but the blond girl still refused to talk. And as Nanoha pressed a final charge on her, demanding an explanation about Fate's reasons with borderline frantic urgency...

Lo, a beam of light came from above, and in the middle of it, a boy in solid full black, with heavily spiked and bulky shoulder pads, appeared between the combatants, easily blocking their weapons with his own.

As Arf paused in her attempts to eat Yuuno and looked up in gaping confusion, Yuuno only could muster an annoyed groan by this point.

* * *

Fate had lost the Jewel Seed. And Lady Precia definitely was not pleased.

Arf sat right outside the forbidden door, whimpering helplessly to herself as she remained crouched and clutching her head, trying to block her furry ears as much as she could. It didn't help. It never helped. Her sense of hearing was too good for it.

The proud predator was reduced to a frightened, powerless pup as her ears couldn't help picking every sound from the chamber. Every scream, every lash of the whip, every insult and slap. That was her part of the punishment, and Precia Testarossa knew she didn't even have to enforce it, since Arf herself would take care of it. No matter how harsh it was for her, she wouldn't leave the door until Precia was done.

"You brought the TSAB down on us!"

Arf cringed and sobbed, closing her eyes and trying to think of better times.

"The time was not yet ripe!" Precia growled. "We aren't ready! You idiots have jeopardized everything!"

Precia never struck Arf herself, and as a matter of fact, rarely even acknowledged Arf's existence. She didn't need to.

Precia's ragged, tumultuous breathing, interrupted by fits of coughing that were as brief as violent, could be heard over Fate's quiet, subdued whimpers of pain. "That... that will be enough for now. Compensate me."

And that, in a way, was the worst part to listen to. Arf braced herself, even though she knew it never would be enough. She heard the rustling of clothes falling down, and Fate's languid sigh of fascinated admiration. That was what disgusted Arf the most, and knowing it came from her beloved Fate rather than her torturer only made it worse. Had it been a sound from Precia, Arf could have hated it as much as she hated everything else about the woman. But she couldn't hate the person who had just sighed in rapt contemplation. As much as she hated the implications of that tiny, broken sound.

Arf could have endured everything if she had known Fate would stand defiant, and even hold a tiny grudge against her mother. It wouldn't have to be more than a fraction of Arf's boundless hatred for that vile woman. But the fact was, Fate would never stop loving that monster. Much more than she ever would love Arf.

Again, it wasn't a matter of Fate loving Arf back, or at least that was what Arf chose to believe. She wanted to think she would have soldiered just as fine if Fate hadn't loved her, as long as she didn't love Precia either. It was sharing Fate's heart with that monstrous creature that made Arf so distraught. Then again, who else did Fate have? If she hadn't loved either Arf or Precia, she couldn't possibly love anyone else, and the perspective of a Fate who couldn't love terrified and disgusted Arf even more than the idea of a Fate who could love the being who had damaged her so much, above anything else.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Arf just broke down crying.

Inside of the closed chamber, Precia allowed herself a twisted smirk as she stepped out of her black dress and stepped towards the chained, whipped daughter she held naked at the middle of the room. She stood right before her and placed a hand on Fate's head.

Obediently, Fate stuck her tongue out and began delicately licking her mother's naked crotch.

The familiar's howls of anguish right outside were the best music Precia could have for the occasion.

Arf, in the middle of her despair, chose to focus her rage on someone she could pummel next time they met, rather than on the mother she never could punish. The stupid girl who had made Fate fail, who had placed her in that situation to begin with. The little idiot surely was enjoying herself now...

* * *

Nanoha sat at the living room, sweetly humming to herself as the long and by now hoarse moans and groans of her mother came less frequently now. Nanoha guessed that was because Sensei had finished with her. It had been a long while since they had started, but then, Sensei always took her sweet time with these things. It had been mean of her, having Nanoha wait outside instead of letting her play a part, since Nanoha was curious about how such things looked from the outside, and how her mother looked while being caressed and touched and licked. But Nanoha guessed it'd be much harder for Mom to be initiated if she was there at the time, and she was also sure Sensei would let her in as soon as Mom was ready for it.

So she just sat there and sweetly hummed as she touched herself, her skirt and panties on the floor. Yuuno slept upstairs, under the influence of a sleep spell, and Dad had gone out for an errand that night, taking Kyouya and Miyuki with him. That was why Sensei had chosen that night to talk Mom into allowing Nanoha to remain under her care over a whole week, while they settled things with Chrono-kun and his superiors. Sensei had said it'd be easier to convince everyone if they talked to them one by one, and Nanoha supposed she could see the logic in that. So, shortly after arriving there that night, Sensei had asked for some important adult privacy time, and Mom, who always was a big believer on adults discussing things behind closed doors, had sent Nanoha out, without suspecting a thing.

The loud kisses and moans and shouts had started shortly afterward. Then Nanoha began rubbing herself. She'd eventually discarded her shirt to pinch and tug on her nipples with a hand while the other kept playing her crotch by the time Sensei finally stepped out from the next room, naked as a jaybird and with no phallus in display. "Your Mom will see you now, Nanoha-chan," she said as she gestured with her head for Nanoha to step in.

"Oh, thank you, Kitami-sensei!" she said as she skipped her way in, smiling at the naked, sweaty, dazed Takamachi Momoko, who was on her back on the dinner table, legs spread and a vibrator up her cunt, another one up her ass.

"Na-no-ha-chan..." she groaned, barely lifting her head from her awkward position. "You... You can go, of course, but... I'll miss you... in the meanwhile..."

"I'm sorry, so sorry, Mom," Nanoha honestly said. "I wish it could have been some other way, really! But I'll make up to you after I come back. Like this," she added, advancing towards her.

Kitami smiled from the doorstep as her star disciple began making her proud once again.

* * *

"Admiral Lowran!" Chrono said, actually surprised, as soon as he saw the woman waiting for him at his living quarters, upon his return from Earth. "I thought you were currently overviewing the battalions at Sector 47!" he added, with a perfect martial salute.

The tall, busty woman with glasses and long purplish hair made into a ponytail smiled at the boy, answering with a vague salute of her own. "I was, but I was told this case took precedence. The Bureau has been looking for Doctor Testarossa for over a year, after all."

He gulped, trying to make it as discreet as possible. "I apologize over my failure in capturing Doctor Testarossa's alleged daughter, Ma'am! I'll gladly accept any punishment you see fit to give me!"

The woman, against her normal, austere customs, smiled, as if tempted. "You don't say? I hadn't thought of applying any punishments on you, but I suppose you make for a good case there. Although it would be rather harsh, applying the standards for a veteran to an outstanding beginner. Your mother wouldn't have had a career if our superiors had been that stern. Regardless, belated congratulations on your graduation, Chrono."

"Thank you, Admiral," he nodded once. "This is all thanks to the help and training I've received from you and everyone else!"

"Oh, really? Well, I'll be glad to help as much as I can with your first official case, as well. This seems like the kind of mission that can forge a career in the making."

"Is it that big?" Chrono asked, before adding, "I mean, I don't doubt your word at all, I just was unaware Doctor Testarossa had that high a profile. I know she destroyed her installations and was branded an outlaw, but-"

"Most of the events involving her were labeled Top Secret, so it's understandable you wouldn't be aware of them. The Bureau should be sending us the full files before tomorrow."

Chrono nodded, although both knew 'the full files' was an euphemism. Once something was labeled a Top Secret, they would reveal bits and pieces if they were forced to, but the higher-ups would NEVER share everything they knew. You had to accept that if you wanted to belong.

Leti Lowran gave a step towards him, arms folded right under her substantial chest, flattered by the elegant lines of the uniform. "Relax, Chrono. I am just as mindful of military discipline as you in the line of duty, but right now, we are off-hours, and we are pretty much family. You don't need to be that rigid."

"Yes, Ma'am! I mean, no, Ma'am!" he gasped, choosing not even trying the 'But every hour is an hour in duty!' argument again, for he suspected it'd be as useless as it was against his mother. Lindy and Leti were pretty similar in a lot of things, after sharing the same background, as their nearly identical forehead markings proved. "Um, although, your choice of dress for this visit gave me the impression ... n-never mind," he tried to correct himself, realizing he had just said something very dangerous indeed, one way or another.

"Don't worry about this uniform. I won't be wearing it for long."

"Ahhh?!" Surely he had to be mishearing her, or that was a strange sort of dry prank from her, or a test for his own seriousness and dedication to the protocols. After all, she was more dignified than his mother or the twins, and nowhere as... warm as Amy, so she couldn't possibly be actually teasing him, much less be really serious in any private intentions towards him.

Leti chuckled softly. "I'll teach you a trick to relax your mother once taught me, because I see you need it, much like I needed it back then. I promised I'd keep helping you, and you promised you'd repay me, so this is a way we can do both things at once, too."

The danger signs once again went off in Chrono's head. "A-Admiral? What do you mean...?"

"You know, Chrono, over these last few months, you've been growing very fast."

"R-Really? I think I still look like a child, and anyway, I have no idea what does that have to do with-"

"No, no, you look a lot more like your father now," Leti said, shaking her head. "At least, back when he was your age, and I first met him..." She almost was in his face now, or at least her breasts were.

His father. There he was again, being mentioned once more when a woman was moving dangerously close to him. So he decided to be brave and just reformulate his hanging question to go straight to the real point. "What does my father have to do with any of this, Admiral?" he demanded, trying to politely keep her at arm's length.

She smiled at him again, now more gently. "Didn't your mother ever tell you? Well, Clyde was a good man, the best you could ask for, as a matter of fact. But he still was just a man, and like most men, he wanted to have... life experiences before settling down on a single path in life. Your mother ended up being that path, naturally, but in the meanwhile..." She shrugged, moving a gloved hand in a circle just once. "I don't regret anything, other than not being good enough for his standards."

"So, you and my father actually-"

"Oh yes, we went all the say," Lowran sighed. "We were young and vital, and we were in a line of work where you never can be too sure there will be a tomorrow. Is it any wonder we'd give it a complete try?"

"I guess not," Chrono admitted, "but now... you want... with me, too? I'm not him, Admiral. And even if I'm striving to be like him, that doesn't mean-"

She toyed with his hair. "Isn't an older woman good enough for you? That's not what your mother told me."

Alien cultures, all in all, don't have taboos about incest as severe as those of most Earth cultures, but chances are, if you go anywhere in the galaxy, you won't be seen favorably if you start admitting you had sex with a family member. Chrono, despite his recent slip and how it still lingered on his mind, tempting him more than he'd want to ever admit, knew that very well. "M-My mother?! What, what has she told you, about me?"

She began unbuttoning her jacket. "We're dear friends, and comrades in war. We loved the same man, and I suppose you could say we love each other as well... although I'll always deny it if you ever tell her I said that. I'm not going to start judging her now, not after all we've done together. What? It surprises you?" she chuckled at his clearly surprised face. "You'll understand soon enough. The only way to survive this job with some measure of sanity is to have a constant release valve." She pulled her pants down her surprisingly smooth and firm legs. "That's what I'm going to teach you about now. The things they never teach you at the Academy."

He gulped. "Understood, Ma'am!"

Minutes later, they rolled naked across his bed, the woman kissing his lips with passionate abandon. "To think that one day I'd feel your warmth like this, like I felt his," she told him, playing with his hard nipples. "This is a truly unusual twist of fate. I have to thank Lindy, actually. Maybe you could help me with that, too."

He admit to admit she was a beautiful lady, and now, so close, and in the grasp of passion, she also had a strong, appealing scent of raw, musky and sweaty... carnality about her. Her deep, purring tone as she caressed him all over only added to the experience, and by now Chrono could do nothing but mentally beg for Amy's forgiveness as he placed himself on top of Lowran, looking at her smiling at him as she went over to rub his dick between both hands.

"Oh, so you want to be on top," she told him.

"I don't get to be on top often," he confessed.

"I figured," she braced herself down against the mattress as he slowly entered her. "Hmmm, yessss, nice. How do I compare to Lindy?"

"Tighter!" he truthfully gasped, going gradually deeper into the woman until her flesh touched the base of his cock.

She chuckled again, now shakily. "Biiiiig ..." And then, a raspy pant. "Oh yeah, of course I'm tighter than her. She does it all the time, I bet she and that woman -"

Chrono blinked. "Which woman?"

"Noooot important now, ask her sometime laaaater," Lowran moaned, moving her hips as a hint of what to do next. Of course, he understood just as soon and began pumping in. "Oh, yes, don't worry about birth control, I'm okay, go all the way!"

"Um, that's, that's good to hear," he breathed raggedly. "Admiral Lowran, you're so warm and tight... it feels like I'm going to melt!"

"Oh? Well, thank you," she said, bucking under him. "You're not bad at all either, Chrono. You've been having lots of practice, haven't you? But Lindy told me she'd only done you once."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he said, closing his eyes to better resist the overwhelming sensations. "I've been abusing my position, I, I, I -!"

"What position?" she challenged, rolling them around so now she was on top, vigorously riding him. "You're still at the bottom, Chrono. You need work harder to rise to the top... oh Gods, good start, though!" she reached back for the band of her hair and tugged it off, freeing her beautiful wild mane all around her body.

"Ah! Ah!" Chrono gasped. "Even so, even if I'm a novice, my trainers, a bridge officer, I shouldn't have -!"

"Yes! Yes, you should, so you're at this level for your Admiral!" she shouted, slamming herself up and down on him. "I must be losing my mind, but like I care! Entranced so much by a boy! Clyde's boy! Give me what Clyde never gave me, boy! Give me give me gimme gimme!" her voice went into a frantic staccato.

"What what what?" she asked, feeling her drool falling on his bare chest and lower face, and swallowing a fair bit of it.

"Give me your seed, give me the child Clyde never gave me, through your dick, oh Chrono!" she howled, shaking in orgasm above him, her breasts bouncing with an apparent life of their own.

"What, you said you- Uuughhh!" the vaginal contractions around him were too much for his rational mind to handle, however, and he ejaculated, several times, into Lowran's viciously squeezing hungry cunt.

Then she plummeted on top of him, hugging him tightly. As if he was hers. "I said I was okay," she clarified. "And when an Admiral says they're okay, it's not for a cadet to question on what they mean," she added, returning to her usual, stern all-business time tone.

Chrono only could hiccup an anguished but resigned agreement.

That happened the night Griffith Lowran was conceived.

* * *

"I must say," Lindy Harlaown said, placing yet another cube of sugar into her green tea, "this is a situation I'm not entirely comfortable with."

"I'm sure it can be worked out, Fate-chan doesn't seem to be a bad person, just slightly misguided," said Nanoha, the current poster child for awfully misguided persons, as she heroically tried to resist the sight of what was happening right before her eyes. So did Kitami, who sat at her side, flinching with each bit of sugary goodness the Captain dropped into the warm liquid. She might have been demonically evil, but she still held to rigorous standards when it came to non-drugged drinks.

"No, I mean bringing an unauthorized third party into a direct negotiation with officers of the TSAB," Lindy said, quietly giving Kitami an even glare. And pulling another sugar cube from a handy bag at her side. "Nanoha-chan, we have allowed you access to this ship due to the fact you already were performing high level magic on your own, making you a person of interest for the Bureau, but my superiors will demand for an explanation for Kitami-san's presence. So, you would do well to supply me with said explanation, or I'll be forced to throw Kitami-san into containment. Nothing personal, mind," she told Reika, with a brief shrug of shoulders and a new sugar cube.

"I'm Nanoha-chan's manager," Reika coolly replied. "So I must watch for her interests in any negotiations she might have with outside elements."

"I see, so that's the way things work on this planet?" Lindy mused, taking her cup to her pink lips and delicately sipping the tea. Lightly smacking her lips together, she hummed, "It still needs more sugar..."

Kitami's right eyebrow twitched even more. "That's... that's the way everything works on this planet, actually, it's all a matter of proper representation and legalities and -"

"Aaaaahhhh, I can't take it anymore!" Nanoha all but lunged forward, pushed past the brink of her tolerance. "Harlaown-taichou, you can't keep doing that! It's a crime against perfectly good green tea! And it'll end up damaging your health, too!"

Lindy gave the child a blank, surprised stare before breaking into a chuckle. "Wow, that's just what my son is always telling me, too! I bet you'll get along really well! And on the subject of boys -" She gave Yuuno, who sat quite a bit behind Nanoha, almost next to the room's door, a sharp look. "- don't you think it's time for you to show your real form, Scrya-san?"

Nanoha blinked. "Your real form?" she asked, looking back at the gulping ferret.

"I knew it," an amused Kitami smirked.

"Well," Yuuno said. "You see, I had to take this biological structure as a mean to preserve energy and optimize my body functions until I was completely recovered from my injuries -"

"I see, but you have recovered by now, haven't you?" Lindy gently pressed on. "Otherwise, our scanners would have called the Medical Team on you as soon as you entered the Arthra."

Yuuno scratched the back of his neck with a paw. "But, you see, too many things have happened, too fast, and returning to my real form would have only complicated matters and made the search much more difficult and -"

"So that's not how you really look, Yuuno!" Nanoha grew really excited, turning around and lowering her smiling face to Yuuno's level. "You're so mean, never telling me about this before! What do you really look like? Tell me! It's a bestial form with a myriad tentacles, like something spawned from the blackest pit of the great old races that once dominated Earth, isn't it?"

"N-No, of course not! What are you saying, Nanoha?!" Yuuno cried, fur standing up, as Lindy briefly gave Kitami a curious side glance. Kitami only smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "It's just, you see, I never thought you'd want to see it, because it's so... so..."

"Hideous? Mind-breaking? Horrific?" Nanoha asked, growing even more thrilled by the moment. "Silly Yuuno, you won't scare me no matter what! I've become very brave lately! Just try me!"

"I... I'd prefer not to, really -" Yuuno cringed.

Lindy coughed softly. "Any failure to reveal your actual physical appearance to a Captain of the TSAB under explicit orders to do so will be considered a legitimate cause for imprisonment under charges of hiding key information about your possible intents and purposes," she shared, matter-of-factly, not particularly sharply at all.

Yuuno sighed. "Very well. But please keep calm, Nanoha, and let me explain, as soon as you see this. Rest assured I never wanted to trick you or -"

Lindy frowned and reached for a button under the tea table. Before the button could be pressed, Yuuno yelped and changed back to the appearance of a charming boy with light hair, barely taller and older looking than Nanoha herself.

"Yuuno!" Nanoha gasped. "All this time, you were actually a boy! An actual boy, not a boy ferret, but an actual boy!"

Yuuno's head hung in shame. "Yes, Nanoha, I was! Not your own actual species, but still close enough for that not to matter here!"

"And yet you always slept in my bedroom!" Nanoha said.

Lindy took a hand to her own cheek. "Oh my, what a licentious young man," she said. Kitami nodded firmly.

"I'm sorry! I know I'm the worst person in this room!" He completely failed to notice Kitami's faint chuckle at that choice of words. "Please forgive me, although I'll never blame you if you don't!"

"And you followed me and the girls to the bath house!" Nanoha continued to narrate, slightly oblivious to his angst.

Yuuno took both hands to his head. "I only wanted to make sure you all were safe and okay! I know that doesn't excuse my omissions, but at that point, I swear I couldn't have changed yet!"

"And you watched me undressing!" Nanoha added.

"No, I didn't!" Yuuno cried. "I always looked aside!"

"Mmmmhhhmmm, sure you did," Reika and Lindy chorused.

"I did!" he insisted, reduced to tears. "Nanoha, you have to believe me! Please, I beg you, I never want to lose your precious friendship!"

"Yuuno," the girl asked, very seriously. "There's something I need you tell me, with all sincerity, and you'd better not try to lie to me this time, or else I'll be very disappointed."

"Technically I never lied, I just failed to mention, um, never mind. What, what is it, Nanoha-chan?" he swallowed hard.

"Why did you change back with all your clothes on, instead of being naked? Because I doubt you were hiding any sort of clothing under your ferret fur," she said, reaching over to lightly tug on the leg of one of his green shorts. "Is it the same principle that creates my Mahou Shoujo uniform out of thin air? Because I'd really like to learn all there is to know about that, but even Kitami-sensei can't tell me anything on the subject."

"Not my field of expertise," Reika admitted, non-chalant. "I know a lot about making clothes disappear, but I never have seen the need to make them appear from nowhere."

"I can tell you are a very interesting person," Lindy told her, although she still was unsure herself if she meant that as praise or insult.

Yuuno was still too shocked to care about any of that and its implications, however. "You... you aren't mad at me?" he weakly asked Nanoha.

"Why?" she asked back. "Because you hid information from me, your partner and ally, just like I would hide information from my loving family?"

"Ah. Well, when you put it like that..."

"It sadly comes with the territory of being a magic user," Lindy nodded, reaching for another cube of sugar. She didn't do it stealthily enough as to avoid new disapproving glares from Nanoha and Reika, however. After a moment of doubt, Lindy put the cube back into the bag without dumping it into the tea. "...sorry," she felt compelled to say.

"That's better," Nanoha and Reika nodded at once.

* * *

Not too long afterwards, Nanoha found herself casting a much harsher variation of that very same glare at the pale, desperate-looking woman at the brink of an abyss who clung to the huge containment tube holding a small naked blond girl almost identical to Fate.

"Precia Testarossa!" she said, aiming Raising Heart at the woman. "As a deputy temporary agent for the Time and Space Administration Bureau, I hereby place you under arrest on the charges of sabotage, criminal conspiracy, information theft, unauthorized biological research, breaking the Mid-Childa protocols, ownership of illegal magical weaponry of mass destruction, and above it all, being a bad, bad, bad mother! You have the right to remain silent until the time of your hearing before a court of law! Anything you do say can and will be used against you in the aforementioned hearing!" she then asked Chrono, "Did I say it right?"

The handsome black haired boy standing shortly behind her, along a frowning Yuuno and very concerned Fate, sighed and nodded, "You forgot the charge of trespassing on in a Galactic Security Area, but that's okay."

"Alright!" Nanoha nodded, then fumed at the coughing woman again. "Well, what is it going to be then, Ma'am?"

The black haired female seethed angrily, staring undiluted poison at all of them, but mostly at the weak-willed abomination she had created. For a moment she considered dropping down with dignity and facing death on her own terms, along Alicia, rather than surrendering to those vile creatures. But then she remembered her deal with Harlaown, and knew the green haired woman would have to continue dealing with her. It was in her own best interests, as well. Both if she wanted to see her man again, and if she wanted to keep her own career and prestige. Precia knew too much about her, but she could not negotiate if she was dead. Committing suicide would leave Harlaown with an all-too-easy clean escape, after losing nothing, while Precia lost it all.

And Precia would have none of that.

So she straightened herself as best as she could, let go of Alicia's tank with great reluctance, and slowly raised the arms that trembled so much, despite her best attempts to keep her limbs under control. "I surrender," she said, with the harsh, dry hiss of a dying denizen of hell.

Only then did Fate breathe relatively easy again.

* * *

It had been a long, grueling battle, followed by an even longer and more grueling chain of rounds of bureaucratic discussion, questioning by and reporting to the Bureau higher-ups. Now Chrono really knew what the twins had been meaning all the time they ever spent bemoaning about the 'drag' part of their jobs; he had used to think it was only their unruly and anarchic nature speaking, but even after passing so many written tests and graduation procedures through his education, the sheer weight of all the paperwork he had to do to settle the fallout of Precia Testarossa's capture left him more of a broken shell of a man than any combat or vicious fucking session had ever rendered him before.

And they were a highly technologically advanced society, anyway! Why did they still need to resort to PAPER-work?!

Oddly enough, or perhaps not that surprisingly since it was obvious there was something strange about that girl, Takamachi-san had loved tackling the paperwork, preparing her reports and tending to her declarations with gleeful zeal that even Professor Kitami had found rather unsettling. (Not that it had discouraged Reika from dropping the responsibility for her own reports on Nanoha, of course.) Most shocking of it all, when Chrono and Lindy had reviewed her reports, they had found them to be very well redacted and thought-out, only needing a few retouches for the sake of convenience. Lindy had even, hopefully jokingly, teased Chrono he should eventually marry Nanoha-chan, even if her tastes in tea left a lot to be desired.

_I can't believe it!_ he thought, as he returned to his chambers after presenting what hopefully was the last of his spoken reports on the subject. _As if I needed any more women in my life... well, I suppose I owe what I am now to women like my mother and Amy and everyone else, but still, I could use a temporary assignment to the men's colonies of Taraak!_

As he contemplated how to best ask for this without leading his mother and Amy to believe he might just be homosexual, which by the way he was not, Chrono found someone standing at his doorstep, in a simple white shirt and short blue skirt. Her expression was soft and measured, yet rather uncomfortable, and her large burgundy eyes avoided direct contact with his as she bowed to greet him. "Welcome, Officer Harlaown. My mother sent me to speak to you."

"Miss Testarossa?" he gulped. "Your mother? I thought she still was under-"

"My apologies," she said. "I should have been clear from the start. I... I forgot you haven't been told about that, although I shouldn't have, because that's what I was sent to tell you in the first place, and, well..."

"Calm down, Miss Testarossa," he gently told her, seeing she was even more off-put by this than he was. He still wasn't sure why they'd let her out of her surveillance cell so soon, but she was unarmed and clearly not a threat at the moment. "I'm listening, no matter how long it takes you to explain, so please don't feel pressured to-"

"Captain Harlaown has filed a request to take over legal guardianship for me!" she managed to blurt out, very fast and red-faced. "It hasn't been approved yet, and I know I'll have to pass a test period first, but we wanted you to know right now regardless! Please accept me as your little sister, Officer Chrono!"

Chrono's face suddenly lost all visible features, as Fate, panting from the emotional strain and almost crying, stared directly at the blank that had appeared between his chin and his forehead.

Then, while never stopping looking (despite his lack of eyes) at the lovely girl before him, twin geysers of blood splurted from where his nose used to be, and he plummeted on his back, like dead weight.

"OFFICER CHRONO!" Fate cried, desperately rushing to his side.

Spying on them from just around the corner of the hallway, Lindy giggled to herself. "Oh my, so he's a Lolicon at heart, after all! He never had this reaction before, that naughty boy!"

Leti, who remained side by side with her, hummed analytically. "He doesn't really know how to treat women out of bed yet, does he?"

"Well," Lindy brought her hands together over her bosom, "it's going to be a lot of fun, educating him on this as well."

And that's where we leave him for now.

* * *

"Why," Fate asked, after they stopped under the shadow of the gigantic tree dominating the landscape, under the bright red afternoon sky, "have you brought me here?"

Nanoha smiled at her. "I won't see you again for a while, will I? That's why the Captain gave us this day to spend it together."

"Oh. So she told you. Of course she would," Fate emitted what probably was a small sigh.

"I figured it out, mostly," Nanoha said, with no false modesty. "Fate-chan, had you ever seen a tree like this before?"

She looked up at the complex maze of thick and thin branches above their heads, and the birds nestled amongst them. It was a truly wonderful spectacle of nature, of the sort she never had gotten to enjoy since the days of her formation under Linith. "It looks," she mused aloud, "like a Juraian royal tree, although I only have seen them in holographic reproductions. The actual trees are kept under very strict surveillance by the crown of planet Jurai."

"Seriously?" Nanoha said, not really knowing what to answer to that sort of tangent. "Um. Live and learn, I suppose... anyway, there's a legend at this campus that says, if you pledge your love to someone under this tree, that person and you will be brought together by the red strings of... fate." She gave Fate a small smirk.

Fate didn't smirk back, although the small wordplay didn't seem to bother her either. "Nanoha-san. I'll be eternally grateful for your help, but... we've barely gotten to know each other, and I don't know when, or even if, we'll see each other again."

"I'll be waiting, Fate-chan," Nanoha promised.

"You might," Fate cautioned, "be left waiting forever."

"And I will, if necessary," Nanoha replied, although Kitami had never bothered to explain to her that, while you wait for the person you feel attracted to the most, you aren't supposed to mitigate that wait with others. That might have actually made Nanoha feel conflicted.

"You don't know what you are saying," Fate insisted. "You will forget me. And odds are I'll forget you as well. Let's just leave things as they are, Nanoha-san. It's better this way."

"I can swear," Nanoha insisted in turn, grabbing Fate's hands and craning her face towards hers, "neither of us will ever forget this. When you are out there, no matter how fact, you will remember it, and so will I, and it will bring us back together. Maybe not in a year. Maybe not for a decade. But it will, regardless. Fate-chan," she purred, and then brought her lips to Fate's.

The blonde gasped into Nanoha's mouth, and her shock only grew when Nanoha's hands began to undress her skillfully, as they slowly fell on the grass. Nanoha on top, taking Fate's clothes off with increasing speed and urgency, until the golden haired girl was in the nude under her, and only then did Nanoha undress herself.

Then Nanoha took hold of Fate's body again, kissing all over her face and chest, while their crotches came together the way Kitami-sensei had taught her. Nanoha rubbed herself against Fate, and Fate gasped for air she found herself desperately needing.

Fate had always been submissive, and her only sexual experiences had come in the form of physical and psychological abuse. She was conditioned to just take whatever was inflicted upon her, whenever it was. Even if she had hated what Nanoha was doing to her now as much as she hated what her mother did to her, she couldn't possibly have pushed the girl off herself.

And she actually liked what she was feeling now, at least as much as she could like it after years of mistreatment. Because Nanoha, as forceful as she was being, was not aiming to actually hurt her. Her touches, her kisses, were meant to give as much pleasure as they were taking. Nanoha wasn't half as successful at it as she would have wanted to be, which, again, would have greatly disappointed her if she had ever learned it. But Fate wasn't ever going to tell her. Least of all now, as she only moaned Nanoha's name over and over while their bodies rubbed against each other, the wonderful new sensations of soft friction instead of harsh impacts sending chills all over Fate's flesh.

Nanoha was right. Neither of them would ever forget that afternoon, or the evening that quietly slid in afterwards, while they still made love under the stars.

For better or worse.

* * *

"I'm sure they're having a lot of fun together," Kitami smiled as she followed Captain Harlaown down the solitary hallway.

"Probably," Lindy shrugged, not looking back at her. "I assume it was you who taught her how to have fun?"

"Well, her and her mother. Don't give me that look. I'm not _that_ old."

Lindy stopped looking back at her over her shoulder, and kept on walking for the metal door at the end of the corridor. "I'm probably thrice as old as you, so it's not like I can judge you over that either."

"No, it's obvious you aren't the judgmental type, Captain. For which I'm infinitely grateful. My life would be much easier if only I had met-"

"Let's make this clear from the start," Lindy said as she stopped right before the door, holding her ID access card in a hand and gesturing with it towards Kitami. "I command a ship that could sink what remains of your islands with only a couple of full power shots. The moment you try something against us, that's the moment that this ship's security systems start killing you, and they are done one second afterwards. The only reason why you are here is because you have shown me you might have a way to solve the complication that has just arisen, but if you fail at that, I won't lose any sleep over either erasing your whole memories or shooting you into outer space, depending on how much of a threat you happen to pose."

"I only pose a threat to my enemies."

"And what does it take to become your enemy, Professor?"

"I think everyone is better off if you never need to learn that firsthand, Captain."

After a moment, Lindy smiled, in a far harsher way than was her custom. She slid the card into the slot next to the door, and it opened to show them the chamber within. "You know, it's funny, that's exactly how my first conversation with her went."

"Then I can tell we will like each other," Reika said.

"Or you'll hate each other too much. Let's find out," Lindy replied, leading the way inside. They came to a halt before the tank that held the inanimate little girl, as the door closed back behind them. "But, first -"

Reika looked at the girl with an analytical, careful eye, circling around the tank several times and looking at her from all angles. "She's well preserved, at the very least. If I can't revive her soul, I'll still be able to at least place a familiar demon within the body."

"No. She wouldn't be fooled by that. And furthermore... I'm a mother as well. And there are limits to what I'd allow you to do to other people's children."

"Fine. I was just talking about a last resort scenario. My mistress holds part of the keys to the worlds of death. I'm sure it can be done... for a price."

"Precia will give you anything and everything she has, as long as she has her daughter in return."

"I don't think she has much to offer at the moment."

Lindy chuckled and tapped on her own skull with a finger. "She has all we need right here. Well, not in mine, in her own, but you get-"

"Yes. Yes, I do," Kitami said, beginning to take her jacket off. "I want your son's seed, as well."

"Chrono is generous with his seed. I'm sure that can be arranged."

"Lovely and understanding," Reika nodded, tossing her top aside and baring her chest. "So let's seal this deal."

"Right here and now? Before... her?" Lindy dubiously pointed at the tank.

"I doubt she'll be bothered by the view."

"No, of course she won't, but... you Earthlings are strange, even Precia didn't ask for this as part of our arrangement."

"Ah. In that case, I expect she won't be reluctant to agree when her turn comes. Are you reluctant, my Fearless Captain?"

Lindy smiled and began tugging her military jacket off. "Have I acted like a reluctant woman so far, Professor?"

_The moment you showed scruples about this girl, yes, you did_, Reika thought as she chuckled and pulled the other woman towards herself, drawing her into a torrid, deep kiss. But, as she knew well, several things are best left unsaid. Until their moment comes.

Reika's hand sneaked down under Lindy's skirt, under her panties and into her vulva. And her fingers began the good work.

* * *

**To be Continued**.


	4. Aphrodite, Orochi

_God's in His heaven, and all's right with the world._

_Except for the occasional bug._

_Behold, Yggdrasil. The world tree, the summation of existence, the virtual representation of the spire around which the world rotates. Of course, these being modern times, the woody and leafy aspects have been replaced by crystal memory storage banks, fiber optic networking hubs and a lovely interface that has an eco-friendly 'Recycling Bin'._

_To gaze upon it with mortal eyes is to gaze into the heart of perfection. The spiraling glass towers extend to infinity and back, mobieus strips upon which all data in the universe is recorded. Colored lights twinkle and play off every facet of the class, the optical readers which transfer the information around the spires, making the tides work and ensuring the sun rises and making sure Kevin Smith keeps making movies._

_Everything good and pure in the universe is parsed and compiled by this computer, the core Turing Machine of reality. Perpetually calculating, never tiring, with Yggdrasil on the job it can be said that all's right with the world._

_\- From 'Ah! My Hentai! by Stefan 'Twoflower' Gagne_.

The tall, buxom, dark skinned woman kept on staring at the words on display at her computer and snorted. "I don't get it. Why start a fanfic with a quotation from another fanfic? Sure, it might just be the best and most accurate description of Yggdrasil a mortal ever stumbled into -" (She dearly hoped no one had been selling their secrets again.) "- by what I dearly hope it's just an incredible coincidence." (See? I told you!) "And I can understand someone feeling unable to top it, plus wanting to pay some tribute to the author of that piece. And okay, I imagine this falls under fair quote usage as it's properly credited and hopefully only used at the beginning... but even so, reusing the fragment like this simply stinks of a lack of creativity, don't you think? Also, Kevin Smith? Now they're pinning Kevin Smith on us? _Really?_"

She looked back at the woman standing behind her for confirmation.

The absolutely perfect, lovely younger woman with a long mane of light brown hair wearing a much more sensible gray business suit than her sister's skimpy black number blinked, then just told her, in a softly concerned tone, "I think you shouldn't be reading lemon fanfiction on the job, Urd."

A pause.

"And I actually liked _Dogma_, you know."

"Oh, for the love of-!"

* * *

Fujishima Kosuke created and Kodansha owns _Oh My Goddess!/Aaa! Megamisama!_

Isutoshi created and owns _Slut Girl_.

Thanks to Darkenning for the proof-reading, and to T51R for the reinvention of the Orochi.

* * *

**OverMaster Corrupts Every Work of Fiction Ever**.

* * *

**Slut Goddess!**

**An Oh my Goddess!/Slut Girl Fusion**.

**Chapter One: Heavenly Bodies**.

* * *

Of course, Urd felt inclined to cut her little sister some slack. After all, working on the Omega Initiative had been hard on Belldandy, harder than it had been on any of them, Urd included. Belldandy had always been the one to value life the most. She just could not, unlike most of them, file it all away as mere statistics, numbers on her screen, to set aside after your turn was over and you headed off to go drink, eat, sleep or do karaoke.

Belldandy had cried during the Black Plagues. Repeatedly. She had spent days without any sleep after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even the extinction of the dinosaurs had hit her pretty badly. Every time Galactus devoured a planet, she would personally go there and place a floating memorial.

The current situation was eating Belldandy alive from the inside, and that bothered Urd, too. Still, there was nothing she could do about it, was there? Nothing but doing her part of the work, unlike a few others.

"Aaahn! Aaah! Oooh!" came the moans from the closed door, just a few steps away from her desk.

Urd clenched her teeth. There was no way that bitch wasn't doing it on purpose. She knew Urd had been in a very long dry spell ever since Troubador left. She could have done it anywhere else, but no, she had to do it right there to rub it in Urd's own damn face. Or get her to join them.

But Urd wouldn't give her that satisfaction. Or even the one of fingering herself as she listened. Bitch had a knack for setting recording devices everywhere that almost (almost!) rivaled Skuld's.

"Aah! Ooh!"

Urd could also have just ratted her out to Dad, certainly, but there was little point to that. Not only Dad was omniscient, so whatever He thought of the situation, He was obviously letting it slide for the moment. (His ways were mysterious, after all.) And bringing the subject up would just leave Urd as a sore loser crying sour grapes. So, what else could she do? Maybe this was her own test? Dad often acted like that. Suffering did prepare the spirit... for more suffering.

* * *

With his pants pooled around his ankles, the barechested, silver haired God of Destruction kept the gorgeous bold woman held by the hips as he slammed into her from behind. "Fuck," he growled, ramming into her with the vigor of a god. "Fuck it, but you're hot, Aphrodite!"

_Well, I would have to be, wouldn't I?_ she thought, rolling her eyes back into what he decided to interpret as a pleasure-induced ahegao, even if it was anything but. The Orochi was a crass brute, but recent events had made him quite a hot commodity in the heavenly hierarchy, and Aphrodite had latched onto the chance as soon as she had detected it. So she played along, moaning like only the woman who invented lust of both the real and feigned varieties could. "Oh, yes, yes, yes! Oh, I can't wait to see the other seven heads!"

She was on her stomach on her desk, her hot pink dress folded over her chair, while the Orochi fondled her breasts - not too big, not small at all either - and kept on pistoning with animal ferocity, drooling all over her neck and smooth back. "Damn, you've gotta be the finest piece of ass ever created! I'm going to DESTROY this tight pussy of yours, babe!"

Urd rolled her eyes as much as Aphrodite did at that. She almost wished Beerus was there instead of Orochi - for all his many faults, Beerus at least never slept around with co-workers.

* * *

Somewhere else, up, up, up, in a sealed chamber just below that of the Almighty, a tall figure strangely shaped like a hairless cat in ancient Egyptian garb briefly stirred in his sleep, taking a moment to lick at his claw-like hands before returning to his slumber with no dreams.

Sitting at the other end of the chamber, Whis, Guardian of the Gates of Destruction, just sighed wearily and returned to his Sudoku.

* * *

"Oh, but Oro!" Aphrodite moaned, tilting her head back. "We must stop doing it here! What if Urd hears uuuuusssss?!"

In the next office, Urd almost clawed at her keyboard. _Damn grating bitch!_ she thought. _That's why you never can trust the Greek pantheon! Not only do they never pay their debts, but-!_

"Bwa-ha-ha-ha!" Orochi laughed, like thunder. "Let her come, then! For all her talk, that woman's as cold as a glacier! Bet you she hasn't had any action since the Vikings!"

Urd bristled in divine fury, her eyes twin emerald flames. She could have taken Yamata no Orochi's boasting if only it hadn't been true. After all, the man had been defeated once by two high-school aged punks and a single magical woman. It wasn't like his word, that of a mere planetary, rang too much for any god worth their salt; everyone agreed Beerus' post was too big for him. But, the fact his current words rang true pierced Urd to the core. And not in the good way, either.

She would have to do something about that before the world ended. Just to close their mouths once and for all before the cycle stopped. And to see the looks on their faces when she-

When she _what?_

Urd sighed to herself and kept on working on her terminal, crafting her analysis of the thermonuclear consequences of a Solar System-sized sun pulse wave. When she what, indeed? What was she supposed to do to prove herself? Once, she could have easily thought of a way. She would have started a cult, giving birth to a minor age of moral decay across the lands of the mortals, but since Skuld's birth, she really didn't care to do that anymore, she belatedly realized. Not that the little twerp appreciated her attempts to be a good big sister, a role model. Belldandy, to be fair, did acknowledge Urd's efforts to stay in the straight and narrow path during the last few centuries, but even so...

Urd did not feel good at all.

* * *

"Well," Urd said after Aphrodite finally walked out of her office, her turn over. "Hear you tomorrow then, Hon. Although you'd better work on those fake orgasms. Even Snake-Boy's bound to realize he's being had eventually."

Aphrodite stopped and stared at Urd, who stood by the water dispenser with a smug smile and a fist cocked on a hip. "Hmm? Oh, it's you, Urd. You know, it's funny how, even now, I have problems not thinking of you as that hooded dwarf trading a single eye with your sisters."

"Don't worry about that, a lot of people have problems not thinking," Urd shrugged, helping herself a glass of water. "How's the hubby doing, by the way? Still an ace at forging anything but chastity belts?"

"Why, is yours beginning to rust off?" Aphrodite smiled. "What's the problem, Urd dear? You used to act more like a Goddess of Love."

"I guess you could say I, unlike others, I grew up."

"I'll say. It used to be you barely reached up to my knee," Aphrodite laughed. "And even so, I bet you got a lot more cock back then!"

Urd gritted her teeth. "If it meant I had to bed someone like Orochi, I'd pretty much prefer staying this way a couple centuries more."

"Your loss. Oh, Urd, whatever happened to you? You used to be so much fun. Do you know what I think you need? No, not THAT. Even though it'd help greatly too. A good vacation is what you need!" she said, tapping with a finger on her own cheek, in a pensive fashion.

"Well, those of us who don't spend our work hours screwing generally get tired faster than the rest."

"But my job IS screwing! Goddess of Love, remember?"

"I'm a Goddess of Love as well, but I can-"

"No, no, no, no. You're a Goddess of the Past and self-appointed Goddess of Love. But face it, darling, not only were you always treading on already occupied ground, but you haven't even been in my field for quite a while now." This was said with a graceful placement of a fragant, delicate hand on her own chest.

"Oh, hey, discussing who's the most beautiful again?" asked another goddess, a busty blonde in a white dress and sporting an impressive gap in her buck teeth as she spoke, approached them from down the hallway. "Like, I have a way to settle-"

_**"Not now, Eris,"**_ both Goddesses of Love coldly told her.

Eris raised her hands with a shrug. "I was just saying, sheesh. Not like you need me to start fighting over anything!"

And that was true, as well, which only added to Urd's annoyance.

* * *

The next day, Aphrodite didn't show up to work, which suited Urd just fine- until the Orochi showed up at her doorstep, coat lazily thrown over a shoulder, a cigarette in his lips.

"Hey there, Past," he said, in his gruff, deep voice. "Where's Venus-chan? 'Cause she isn't taking my calls."

"Why should I know? Ask Eris, last time I saw 'em they were together," Urd grunted, still working at her computer.

"For real? Shit, that woman can turn anyone this side of the Big Guy against you."

Urd smirked. "Looks like it's the doghouse for you tonight, Oro."

The God of Destruction chuckled, approaching her desk with a brash swagger to his steps. "Oh well, that's part of the cycle of Destruction and Creation of relationships anyway. How 'bout a drink after hours, for the old times' sake? I know a great place down there."

"On Midgard, you mean?" Urd gave him a jaded glare. "I thought you couldn't show up there after those kids kicked your ass."

"I mean lower."

"What, and having one of them go tell Mom I was there? So she can gush about my getting closer to her? No, thanks." Urd went back to working.

"Hey, c'mon, before things go to pot. When will we have another chance afterwards?"

"Hopefully never."

Orochi just stared at her for a moment, then growled. "What the hell happened to you, girl?"

"Oh fuck, not you too!" Urd tossed her hands up. "I'm the same as I've always been, I'm just going through a perfectly normal phase of relaxation! Where I want nothing but to be left in peace without having to worry about pleasing men until *I* decide I wanna try again! Why is that so hard for everyone to understand?!"

Orochi chuckled again. "Don't say that," he leaned an elbow on the desk, leaning ahead so his face almost touched Urd's. His breath smelled strongly of hot tobacco smoke. "You know I'm all but running the show for the foreseeable future. If your Dad doesn't want to promote you to First Category, maybe I can convince Him, see? A few prayers, as long as first there are a few -"

"I don't want to be First Category," she lied. "Too much added responsibility."

"Well," he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "What about a well earned vacation, then? I can get you a nice pad, with all the budget you can ask for... servant Angels up the wazoo, even a few mortal pets if you want ..."

His hand was resting on her collarbone then, right under her necklace, fingers softly tapping on the dark skin. Teasing.

_Well, it's not that he's bad looking_, Urd thought. _And his personality's a pain, but as long as we don't come together for anything but fucking and partying, so what? He's right about something, I really deserve a time out like that.  
_  
Then one of his big, strong hands was sneaking under her suit and firmly squeezing one of her breasts, pinching the nipple over the lacy black bra. Urd took a sudden, deep breath.

"Whoa, too fast, Snake-Man!" she gasped. "I was still thinking it over!"

Cruelly, he began placing small, sharp bites all over the skin of her neck. "Thinking things through is a bad habit. Even when one has the whole eternity for it. You know you want it too, you-!"

Then there was a soft, smug rasp from the doorstep. A frozen Urd tilted her eyes around to see Aphrodite standing there, hands on her hips. Triumphantly. "I-knew-it!" she sing-sang. "I knew that, if I was absent for any long, you two would start fooling around as soon as you could!"

"What the hell!" Urd yelled, pushing the Orochi off herself and re-adjusting her blouse. "Your boyfriend here was downright molesting me, you blind cow! Did I look willing to you?!"

"Oh, the poor immortal Norn, defenseless against a mere planetary," Aphrodite taunted, the giggle dancing on her lips and peeking out. "Good thing I was around to rescue her in the nick of time!"

"Mere planetary?" Orochi snorted, giving himself a squeeze in the package. "That's not what you say when you're getting this, Venus-chan!"

"Okay, that's enough! Out of my office, both of you!" Urd stood up and pointed for the door. "Or I'll file a complaint with-"

"With 'Daddy'?" Aphrodite now actually giggled, a hand on her mouth.

Urd boiled in rage for a moment before just kicking them out and slamming the door shut.

"Filing complaints. Really! They're right, I've lost my fucking edge," she fumed, plopping back down on her seat. "Reduced to filling complaints. Not even Bell files complaints!" She picked her phone up and gave a call. "Hey, it's me. I'm calling you on that favor. And don't ask any questions, okay? All I want is a-"

* * *

Lifting himself from the floor, the Orochi huffed as he scratched the back of his thick neck. "Well, happy now? Not only didn't you put out, but you made me lose my chance to get it on with someone who wouldn't have denied me. Do women find some kind of perverse pleasure from cockblocking men?"

"It looked to me like she was denying you, Oro dear," Aphrodite smiled.

"Don't insult me like that. You know what I did to your precious island utopia last time someone from your family insulted me. I'd have convinced her just a second after you barged in! You had it timed perfectly, didn't you?"

"Perhaps," she playfully admitted, poking a finger around his broad, hard chest. "And maybe that'll teach you to not try any Norse cold fish when you could have a hot Mediterranean meal, right?"

He smiled at her, almost ferally. "Now that you mention it, I'm still quite hungry..."

* * *

Now back in Aphrodite's office, he sat on her chair, legs spread, pants and briefs down, while she knelt and paid her respects to him in the form of vigorous, expert fellatio. The Orochi grunted softly, with a hand on her scalp, as she suckled on his enormous member, her mouth adapting to accommodate the incredible thickness slowly stroking back and forth between her lips and teeth.

Unknown to both of them, a nanorobotic unit had crept into the office, bypassing all of Aphrodite's security measures with ease, turning its recording and linking systems as it focused on them from one of the walls. Its angle allowed it a perfect, clear view of what they were doing.

And what they were doing now, after he came into Aphrodite's mouth, was shifting around so she was on her hands and knees on the carpet, with the Japanese deity taking her from behind as his hands roughly caressed her face.

The bug kept on recording in silence, while a few blocks away, in what was supposed to be another office but had been reconditioned into a gigantic workshop given extra room by subspace expansion technology, one Skuld, Norn of the Future, hyperventilated and nearly fainted, cross-eyed, at what her no-good eldest sister had just made her to record. "Are... are you sure you want to, you want to, this-?!"

"I'll take the whole blame," Urd's voice said through their private wireless line. "Just do it now!"

And so, with a trembling pointer finger, Skuld pressed the 'Full Intraline Connection' button.

One fraction of a second later, all screens on Yggdrasil but those strictly necessary for emergency monitoring began switching from whatever they had been showing moments ago to a carnal display of truly divine proportions. Literally larger than life. Now on her back as Orochi pumped away between her legs, Aphrodite moaned and screamed with pleasure that, for once, was not feigned. All thanks to the images of Urd's defeated, frustrated expression currently running through her mind.

"AHMM! AHNNN! OHHH YESSSSS!"

Urd, sitting with her fingers steppled together, smirked darkly. "It's funny, don't you think, Skuld? You'd think any nookie with Orochi-kun would have to be Destructo Nookie, but her office hasn't even lost the ceiling yet. The guy is seriously overrated."

"I hate you, pervert!" cried the tiny, shrill voice in her ear.

"Oh, stop whining. It'll help you forge character."

Then Urd sighed, smiled to herself, and dusted herself off. She got up from her chair, walked out of her office, and calmly strode down the hallway, ignoring the chaos erupting from all offices on her wake. She entered Rind's office without knocking, just as the Goddess of War angrily cut a call to send a Valkyrie Squad to Aphrodite's office.

"Did you send good looking Valkyries?" Urd inquired, in a pleasant tone. "Because if so, odds are they'll fuck them too."

Rind stared swords of fire at Urd. "You! You have something to do with this, don't you?!"

"I can't lie, despite being Second Category," Urd sat down before Rind's desk, extending her hands ahead as if to be handcuffed. "I didn't file a proper accusation after discovering evidence of sexual foul play in the line of duty, and instead resorted to personal sabotage and spreading immoral content with technology I stole from Skuld, so I came to turn myself in."

Rind's stare didn't really soften that much, but at least the swords weren't in fire anymore. "You still are a real problem case, Urd," she told her.

Urd broke into a short laughter. "Thank you so very much. That's the best thing I've been told all week long!"

* * *

Whis' cellphone rang.

Leaving his Sudoku aside with a brief exhalation of annoyance, he picked the phone up. "Yes? Oh, I see. No, no, it's okay, of course. Yes, I will tell him. Well, he'll probably be a bit upset over waking up before intended, but I will handle it. Yes, he will behave. It was nice talking to you again, too."

He stood up, floated slowly to the sleeping prone of the catlike god, and began prodding his head with his scepter. "Lord Beerus. Please wake up. The Almighty requires your services."

Beerus hissed in his sleep and slapped the scepter aside with a hand-paw.

Whis grew a small pulsing vein on his forehead and began slamming the scepter on Beerus' head instead.

Eventually, that did wake him up.

He was not happy at all about it, however.

* * *

"I'm sorry it had to end this way, Urd," Belldandy sadly told her sister as she helped her carry her things out of the office, in brown cardboard boxes.

Urd just laughed it off. "Oh, don't worry so much, Bell! I was growing tired of that post anyway. So what if the Relief System Office is a dead end that hasn't gotten a single call in centuries? It just leaves me with less to do."

Eris waved at them as she walked past them in the opposite direction, heading towards the office, where an angel was replacing Urd's golden nametag on the door with Eris' own. "Oh, goodbye, Urd! Like, I'm so sad over what happened to you! Totally not your fault at all, what an injustice! But thanks anyway for helping with my promotion! Tee-hee!"

"You're welcome," Urd grunted, before keeping walking away with Belldandy. "She's better suited for that kind of dirty work anyway. And at least I didn't end as badly as Aphrodite and Orochi. I suppose they'll have plenty of time to fuck each other silly in the Moon Chamber, anyway..."

Belldandy sighed, shaking her head to herself. "Urd," she finally said. "If you ever get a call... please promise me you'll use it to try and fix things, will you?"

"What are you talking about? There's nothing to fix about my- oh, you mean _that_. Well," she hemmed awkwardly. "As long as there's anything I can do, I will do it, Bell. Anything for you, after all."

So Belldandy smiled and nodded. "Thank you so very much, Big Sister."

"By the way, how's Skuld doing after-?"

"Actually, they have given her Aphrodite's office," Belldandy answered.

* * *

Skuld looked at her new desk in distraught, complete disgust.

"I, I... I don't want to sit there!" she cried. "It's _dirty_!"

* * *

**To be Continued**.


End file.
